Down the Rabbit Hole
by JAYSEN
Summary: Experimental Title. Two entirely different worlds and timelines come crashing into each other in an odd twist of fate and an accident. What will happen when new threats arise to threaten the ones who gave the MW guys hospitality? Warning...There will be an OC.
1. Chapter 1

_ Hey...A new fic now coming at you. I wrote this fic and had some help from Bucue, who gave a critique before I even thought of publishing. For all of the acronyms that will be in here, I will leave an explaination at the end. Also, I included an O.C, but since MW only focuses on the East Coast, the Russians also invaded the West Coast, that will be his story. He needed a back story, so he has experience and skill comparable to TF 141, so he can hold his own._

_**GALLIAN COASTLINE, 1945**_

_**501st JFW BASE**_

It was a cool morning on the Gallian coast, where the base that housed the famous Strike Witches of the 501st JFW. A young woman with long red hair and a German Officer's tunic breathed in the morning sea breeze from her office window. Wing Commander Minna Dietlinde Wilcke ran over everything that had happened in the past year...

_**FLASHBACK...**_

_ Just months ago, the Strike Witches had been disbanded due to the efforts of a vengeful Brittainian General named Trevor Maloney. This man had always hated the Witches, believeing that little girls had no place on the battlefield, regardless of how much they could contribute to the fight against the Neuroi. This man had been the mastermind behind the Warlock Project, a project that was supposed to replace the witches on the battlefield against their enemy by reverse engineering the very technology of the Neuroi, one of their cores that fell intact. _

_ The intended result was to render the witches obsolete and for a short time, it was working. The Warlock was able to easily shoot down Neuroi and had outclassed the witches in sheer firepower and speed. However, the Neuroi core that had been used as the heart of the Warlock's system overrode it's programming and reverted back to it's original nature. During this time, a friendly Neuroi had attempted to make contact, doing so with one of the youngest members of the 501st and one of the most empathetic, Yoshika Miyafuji. She was able to ascertain that there was more than one faction of Neuroi, one hostile and one that wanted to make peace. The Warlock destroyed them, and took over the hive. It then ran completely amok, absorbing everything in it's path during it's rampage. _

_ This caused the 501st to spring back into action. At first, the Warlock was proving too powerful for them to defeat, but with the combined efforts of all the witches, mainly Yoshika, they managed to destroy Warlock and end the threat to humanity it posed. Maloney, due to his maverick project and unsanctioned disbandment of the Strike Witches, was promptly court marshalled and thrown in prison, most of his key staff following him. The Witches were then re-stationed in Gallia, the area the managed to free from the Neuroi hive in the area and were now tasked with liberating Romangna._

_ There were further attempts at contact from Human Form Neuroi, but other Neuroi from other hives would brutally destroy them. It was a real mystery as to why the Neuroi were firing on each other and why some were attempting friendly contact after all this time. Some theorized that the older Hives evolved to a point that they felt that more fighting was pointless, so they wanted to co-exist. These newer Neuroi were much more savage and cunning than the older ones, stretching the Witches on all fronts to their limits. The lines were stable...For now._

_**FLASHBACK END...**_

She was snapped out of her musings by the sound of her long time friend and 2IC, Major Mio Sakamoto, motivating three of the youngest witches through their physical training. Mio was a task master like no other, priding herself on physical and mental discipline as well as training the young witches to the best of her ability.

"Faster! Harder! How do you expect to help anyone if you remain weak?" Mio shouted at the three girls under her current tutledge. The Fuso Air Officer had requested that a brand new obstacle course be built to further train the girls and herself and she was currently running them ragged.

"I...Can't...Feel my...Legs..." Yoshika panted.

"Thirsty..." Lynnette gasped.

"Clothes...Hair...Filthy..." Perrine whined as they were allowed to rest and get some water.

Mio could only shake her head at the poor performance of the three girls.

"This just won't do. They need to be in better shape than this..." She muttered, calling the break to a close.

"C'mon! Get up and run it again! I've seen old ladies run this faster than you three!" She boomed at them, making them snap up almost on reflex and get back to training, making her think about herself.

_'My magic is getting so weak...I just turned 20 and it's almost gone. What will I do with my life after it's all gone? The life of a soldier is all I know...I must keep training...To extend what little time I have left.'_ She thought with sad determination as she unsheathed her sword, Reppumaru.

_'Reppumaru...Please...Help me at least last long enough to train these girls to take my place after I am gone.'_ She silently pleaded.

Around 200 miles to the east, an R & D team was experimenting with a magical anamoly left behind by a Neuroi attack. Ursula Hartmann, the lead researcher, was currently trying to get readings on the anamoly and trying to see if they could manipulate it somehow. However, as soon as she tried to send some of her magic power into the anamoly, something pecuilar happened. A brilliant flash of light erupted from a runic array, shooting straight up into the sky. This beam of light split into three balls, all of them heading west at a frightening pace. In a near panic, she radio'd the 501st Base, some of the Reserve Witches trying and failing to follow them.

_**"501st Air Base...This is Flying Officer Ursula Hartmann...Reporting three unknown projectiles approaching in your direction!"**_ She called in.

_**YEAR 2016...**_

_**LOS ANGELES**_

The year is 2016. The entire world burned with the fires of war. The seeds of this war were planted years ago, but they took root and revealed their terrible blooms to the world only recently. It had been said that the world is one giant tinderbox. All that's needed is for someone to light the match and watch the flames spread. That match was the death of one Joseph Allen. He had been pulled by one General William Shepherd for a special op in Russia, investigating a terrorist named Vladimir Makarov. During this mission, Allen was forced to take pair in the bloody massacre in Zhakaev Airport in Moscow, a brutal rampage that took close to a thousand innocent lives. In the end, Makarov killed Allen, on to his plans, and left him there for America to take the blame.

This caused all of Russia to cry out for war. _Khleb za khleb, Krov za krov_. A Russia saying that means _Bread for Bread, Blood for Blood._ This has never been more true than now. The entire weight of Russia's military had been thrown at the U.S from all sides, their thirst for blood unparalelled. The Russian military forces began to kill without mercy everywhere they went. Two key places were Los Angeles and Washington D.C, where massive battles have been waged and much blood was spilled.

In Los Angeles, the Russians had been held back, but then General Shepherd pulled his forces out of the area, forcing police forces to fight the Russian onslaught alone. The LAPD managed to hold out for a little while longer, but they could only do so much. We now focus on the only remaining SWAT Team left after the Russians demolished Elysian Park and Parker Center.

Sitting in a SWAT van that had been stocked to the nines with weaponry and ammo, Brad Mason, a 10 year veteran in the LAPD and Lt. in SWAT as well as a SEAL for 8 years, was waiting for the signal to begin their assualt on a Russian Fire Base. Hearing a group of rifle shots that took out the tower guards, he stomped on the gas and plowed through the iron gates of the Base, making a hole for the rest of his team to come in as they began to sweep and clear the area.

The plan was going fairly well, as the highly trained men and women of the LAPD's finest were taking the Russians to task and gunning them down, having taken them completely by surprize. However, their success was short lived. After they fought their way to the fuel depot and were about to set the charges, they heard some yelling and looked over to see a squad of Russians in full armor.

"Holy shit...JUGGERNAUTS! INCOMING!" Lucy Matterson, a SWAT operator, warned her team.

Juggernauts were what they called the armored suits that the Russians used for heavy assualt. These suits could take several rounds and even explosions, and the person inside would only be rattled a bit. They were so tough, that the wearers could wade their way through heavy gunfire and come out with moderate damage to the armor, but no injuries. Ths only downside was that they were very heavy, weighing up to 100 pounds.

The team immeadiately turned and opened fire on them, pouring lead upon the group of five soldiers as they lumbered toward them, their LMGs raining fire back at them. Unfortunately, many of the SWAT members were packing lighter 9mm and .45 Caliber weaponry such as MP5's and Vectors, while a few others had older M-16's and a couple others had the newer M6A2 Carbines chambered in 6.8x43mm Remington SPC. After a lengthly firefight, the Juggernauts started to go down, but the SWAT had sustained heavy casualties. Mason and two other survivors managed to finish setting the Thermite explosives on the fuel tanks and were falling back to the van and make a getaway when one of the officers, Eduardo Ramirez, took a high powered round through his lungs and the other took one to the head, killing him instantly.

"Ed...C'mon...Get up!" Brad yelled, but the man shrugged off his aid.

"Nah...Run...I'll hold 'em, Lieutenant." Ed croaked out in pain as he positioned himself prone and began to open fire on the remain Juggernaut.

"C'mon, pendejo jerkoff!" The wounded man shouted as John fell back to the van and tried to get away, but a T-90 was blocking his path and it's turret was pointed right at him.

"Shit..." He muttered as he flicked the guard on the detonator off and readied himself to hit the trigger when a brilliant blue light flashed into existance that enveloped himself and the SWAT van, blinding everyone else.

Seeing that the Russians were too stunned to do anything, he quickly hit the trigger for the Thermite, igniting the fuel tanks and setting off a chain reaction that would level the surrounding 5 city blocks and hopefully take them with him. Just as the shockwave hit in and knocked him into the truck, cracking a few ribs, he felt himself just...Vanish. The Russians just stood there, completely lost as to what just happened while the explosions consumed them all, wiping out 80% of the enemy military strength in the area and forcing them to flee.

_**WASHINGTON D.C**_

The party here was already over, since the men and women of the 75th Army Rangers had managed to re-take the White House and were now concertraiting on sweeping the surrounding city and other areas, wiping out any enemy contacts they encounter. One unit in particular, Hunter 2-1, had played a vital role in this conflict and several others throughout this war. Sgt. David Foley, the acting CO of Hunter 2-1, was currently leading his two primary subordinates, Cpl. Mike Dunn and Pvt. James Ramirez on a clean up sweep, Ramirez on point. The team weaved their way through the destroyed city that was once their nation's capitol.

Private Ramirez moved swiftly throught the rubble of the ruined city, his eyes roving around to look for any hostiles and potential survivors. He stopped at the end of the block and waited for his two superiors to catch up. Foley gave Ramirez a nod to continue while Dunn nudged him forward.

"Let's go, man." He whispered, Ramirez nodding and complying, checking his M4A1 one last time before moving.

The crew advanced further into the destroyed city, finding small pockets of Russians here and there, but they easily dispatched them. However, Dunn had a particular hatred of Russians and anyone that knew him understood why. When the Russians got to Abeline, Texas, his hometown, they immeadiately destroyed the place. His kid sister, only 16, had been raped by the Russian soldiers in front of his parents before they were all killed. That's enough to encite rage in anyone. Seeing a Russian soldier that was quickly bleeding out and reaching out to him, Dunn kicked away his hand, leveled his SCAR-H, and blew his head off with a quick spray of rounds, popping in a fresh magazine. Foley saw what happened and checked his man.

"Hey...What the hell was that?" Foley demanded.

"Nothing, Sarge. Just making sure that bastard was dead." Dunn replied in a cold tone.

"Keep your shit together, Dunn. I need your head in the game." Foley reprimanded.

"Hooah." Dunn answered him, cocking back the action of his rifle to chamber the first round of his new mag, the team pressing on.

Soon, they came upon an bombed out office building and were about to check it out when a large force of Russians, massed around a T-90 and a BTR came around the corner and spotted them.

"Oh shit...RUN!" Foley ordered directing his men into the abandoned office building to take cover and call for reinforcements.

"Overlord...Hunter 2-1...Discovered massive enemy force with armor just south the Eisenhower Building. Need reinforcements now!" Foley called over the comms.

_**"Hunter 2-1, Overlord...We have eyes on your location via UAV. Sending out an Abrams to your location. ETA...5 minutes."**_ Overlord replied.

"Dammit...We won't last that long!" Dunn yelled over the gunfire, blindfiring over a crumbled wall at a group of soldiers while Ramirez shot a 40mm grenade at them, killing three of them.

"Just keep your head down and keep fighting!" Foley replied, taking aim and picking off the top gunner of the T-90 before taking cover again.

Through a crack in the wall, they could see the turret of the tank move at take aim at them.

"Oh shit..." Dunn grimaced, bracing himself for the eventual tank shell that would bring this old building crashing down on them.

Suddenly, a bright blue light erupted around the three Rangers just as the tank shell struck above them, sending debris down to crush them. Even the Russian soldiers were completely bewildered by the sight. After the light vanished, they sent a few brave souls up to check the damage. They found no trace of the three Americans they encountered. Spooked by what just happened, they began to retreat back to their staging point, only to be struck from behind by the Abrams that had been dispatched to aid the three Rangers.

_**SOMEWHERE BETWEEN AFGHANISTAN AND INDIA...SITE HOTEL BRAVO...**_

Captain Price and his former subordinate Captain "Soap" MacTavish just got through with the river ride of their lives. They had just gotten through chasing down General Shepherd, who had betrayed their unit and branding them as criminals, to not only retrieve the stolen DSM that he took from the now deceased Ghost and Roach of the Task Force Team, but to exact a measure of revenge on the corrupt General.

They first had to fight their way out of the Aircraft Graveyard in Afghanistan, when Shepherd's Shadow Company ambushed them, but also started clashing with Makarov's men, slipping away during the confusion thanks to Nikolai, an old friend of theirs. After learning of what happened to the rest of the 141, Price planned out their attack on Shepherd, making a deal with Makarov himself to get the encryption codes for Shadow Company's comms and their location. Their gamble paid off as Shepherd was exactly where Makarov said they'd be, and they were able to take them by surprize, flushing the General out of hiding and ending up chasing him down a river in a Zodiac while avoiding being blown out of the water at the same time. Price managed to use his M203 to hit Shepherd's Pave Low directly in the cockpit with a 40mm grenade and took it down, but he and Soap wound up falling down a 70 foot drop down a waterfall.

Soap managed to pull himself out of the drink and onto the riverbank near the downed chopper, and limped his way over to it with his combat knife drawn. He stumbled onto a Shadow Company soldier, whose leg was broken at an odd angle, who drew his pistol and tried to fire, but nothing happened. Soap shook his head and buried his knife into the man's neck, killing him almost instantly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shepherd stumbling away from the wreckage and tried to swipe and him, but he missed, the Corrupt General vanishing into the smoke and dust.

Soap chased after him and found him slumped over an old wrecked car outside of a small oil refinery station. Seeing his chance to end the true traitor once and for all, he lunged in, but the cunning General was ready for him. He quickly sidestepped the killing blow, grabbing Soap's head and bounced it off of the roof of the old car, stunning him. Then, he took Soap's knife from his hand and promptly stabbed him in the sternum, standing over him while he went for his revolver.

"B-Bastard..." Soap bit out.

"You know what they saw about revenge, MacTavish." Shepherd taunted.

"Bite me...Wanker..." Soap replied.

"You know...Five years ago, I lost 30,000 men in the blink of an eye, and the world just fuckin' watched. Tomorrow there will be no shortage of volunteers, no shortage of patriots. I know you understand..." Shepherd said as he aimed his gun at Soap's head to finish him off, but he was tackled from the side by Price.

A fist fight ensued, Price hitting the General with body shots, but Shepherd recovered and belted him in the face, sending Price into the dirt. Shepherd went for his gun again, but Price grabbed his ankle and pulled him down, decking him again and dragging him to his feet. Shepherd threw him off, punched him in the gut and kneed his face. During this, Soap tried to go for Shepherd's gun, but the General spotted him and stomp down on it, getting blindsided by a shot to the jaw from Price. The fight dragged on for a few more moments until Shepherd got the upper hand, pummeling Price mercilessly.

Soap, seeing his CO, good friend and mentor getting the crap beaten out of him, steels himself and begins to pull the knife out of his chest. It hurt like hell and his bleeding was getting worse, but if he didn't do something, they would both die anyway...As traitors since Shepherd had framed them for his going rouge. With a final grunt of effort, he pulled the knife out and slid it in his hands, waiting for Shepherd to stay still. Finally, Shepherd stopped beating Price and looked over at him, stunned that he was even still alive. Soap used this surprize to throw the knife, burying itself deep into the traitor General's skull via his eye socket.

Spent from the effort, Soap resigned himself to die there as he closed his eyes. Price stirred after a few moments, looking around for his companion and found him, glad that he was still alive but he needed to get him medical attention quickly. He reached for his radio.

_**"Nikolai! Soap's down! He needs a doctor NOW!"**_ Price yelled into his radio, hoping that he was still nearby.

_**"Da, Captain Price. I thought you said this was a one way ticket, no?"**_ The Russian Loyalist and TF-141 ally quipped as he came in for a landing, but a brilliant blue light seemed to explode underneath his two compatriots, a strange circle with weird symbols appeared with it, growing brighter by the second.

"What the bloodly hell is this? Nikolai! Get us outta here, mate!" Price yelled as he tried to pick up Soap and get out of there, but as the light vanished, so did they. From the face of the earth.

_**"Wha...Wha the hell is this? Price! Price!"**_ Nikolai called frantically to no avail.

_**GALLIA...1945**_

_** "Flight Officer Hartmann...Please repeat! What did you just say?"**_ The Base Operator requested, her tone incredulous.

"I say again...Three unknown projectiles heading in your direction at an unspeakable pace! The Reserve Witches that were with me can't even keep up with them!" Ursula replied.

In the area surrounding the base, the three balls impacted in different areas. The first fell into the ocean, not 40 meters from the shore. The second hit the treeline a mile north along the beach. The final one crashed into the forest 2 miles from the base. All three did minimal damage, but it would take time to find the impact sites.

In the ocean, the three Rangers who we only a moment ago nearly crushed by a falling building in Washington DC were now trying to swim their way to shore.

"What the fuck is this? What the hell happened, man?" Dunn cried out as he dogpaddled his way toward dry land.

"I don't know! Quit whining and keep swimming!" Foley yelled back, a small wave sending salty water into his mouth. Ramirez was simply trying to stay afloat, but it wasn't easy with the large SMAW on his back. After a few more moments of floating like turds in a punch bowl, they washed ashore and took stock of their new surroundings and situation.

"Where the hell are we?" Dunn asked, looking around the beach to anything. Ramirez looked around for himself and found a building of some kind poking up over the thick treeline, pointing it out.

"Good eye, Ramirez. We'll re-group at that structure after we get this water out of our weapons." Foley stated as they checked to see if their weapons were water-logged. Luckily, only Dunn's Scope and NVG's were affected.

"Alright, now...Ramirez, you're on point. Take us to that structure." Foley ordered, the young private's shoulder's slumping as he did as he was told.

On the opposite side of the base on the beach, Price had shouldered the mortally wounded Soap and was currently dragging him toward the large building he saw when he came to. Sure, he was wondering what the hell happened, but he saw that Shepherd's body had bee dragged through whatever rabbit hole the fell down with them. Not one to waste an opportunity, he searched the dead man's uniform tunic and hit paydirt...The DSM that Shepherd killed his men over. He stashed it in his pack and hefted the mohawked former SAS Commando onto his shoulder.

"C'mon, son...You're a hard bastard...I won't let you quit on me..." Price grated out as he continued to drag the injured Scot to the building in hopes of recieveing medical attention.

Another mile away, a SWAT truck had found it's way onto a dirt road and it's driver was trying to make head's or tails of the situtaion, but his thinking was hindered by the massive amounts of pain in his lower ribs.

"Dammit...What the hell was that thing? Where am I?" Mason wondered as he pressed the gas to get the large truck moving, struggling with the amounts of effort it took to steer.

After a few moments more of driving, a pair of men stumbled out of the tree line. One of them appeared to be injured badly while the other one that had been carrying him leveled an M4A1 at him.

"Hold your fire! Friendly!" Mason called out as he spotted the British Emblem on the man's arm, slipping down gingerly and walking over.

"Who the bloody hell are you?" Price demanded.

"Lieutenant Brad Mason, Metro SWAT, Los Angeles Police." He answered, his breathing a little labored.

"Not Russian...Not military...Good." Price muttered, the rifle now pointed down.

"Christ...Your buddy's in real bad shape. I've got a Med Kit in back. Load him up and I'll try to drive us to that building I saw." Mason offered.

"Sound's good. Let's go." Price said as they quickly loaded Soap into the back of the SWAT truck and took off. The two told each other their sides of the story, hoping they would make sense somehow. Price was glad to know the good Lieutenant hated Shepherd just as much as he did.

"Rat bastard left L.A to the wolves. Don't know how many people got slaughtered by the Russians because he just left us there. I only wish I capped him myself." Mason growled.

"So that's what a copper's doing fighting the Russians." Price mused. He had a gut instinct that this man could be trusted and his gut hadn't failed him yet. He managed to peg Shepherd almost as soon as he met him after all. They kept on driving while Price used the Med Kit to keep Soap from bleeding out.

After a few more minutes, Price had him pull over to the side of the base in a secluded area.

"What's up?" Mason asked.

"This base seems lightly guarded, but we'll probably need to sneak in and find a medical facility for Soap. I patched him up for now, but it won't hold for long." Price suggested. Mason nodded and grabbed his M6A2, popping in a fresh mag while storing 3 more, getting into his tac gear.

"You got much training?" Price asked, wanting to know what he was working with.

"SWAT 10 years, U.S. Navy SEALs Team 6, 8 years." Mason answered almost robotcally.

"Good. That means you're up to the task." Price replied appriciatively, having worked with SEALs before, but noticed that the man was injured himself, clutching his ribs occasionally.

"You alright?" The former SAS Commando asked.

"Got a couple broken ribs, but I can wait. He's hurt worse than me and I can still fight. There's some 5.56mm ammo in the back if you need it." Mason offered, the Brit taking said offer, but had a question.

"What types of rounds are they?" Price asked.

"Containers on the left are Frag Rounds. On the right are the FMJ's." Mason directed as Price climbed into the van and loaded up before they both shouldered the wounded man and cautiously made their way onto the base.

They managed to find a kitchen, so they set Soap down to let him rest while they split up to search the rest of the base. They both had radios, so they used them to stay coordinated as they searched.

Back with the Rangers, Ramirez managed to lead them up to a hanger of some kind, where they saw something they couldn't believe. Military equipment and vehicles of all kinds were everywhere, as expected of a base, but not things that were in their time over 70 years old. The three could only shake their heads in disbelief as they continued on. The walked up to a window that opened into a hallway, where they heard voices. They quickly ducked down and hid, waiting out whomever was walking by.

"I swear, Sanya...You really need to stop crawling into my bed like that." Eila complained as her sleepy friend, Sanya V. Litvyak, yawned loudly.

"Sorry..." She replied.

"...It's alright. C'mon, Minna said she wanted everyone there. Something weird happened earlier." Eila told her friend as they walked past where the three Rangers hid.

Ramirez stood up, his ballistic glasses askew as his mind struggled to come up with some kind of explaination as to why two young girls were walking down the hall without any pants on. The other two saw his strange reaction and looked to see what he saw, the same reaction hitting them.

"S-sarge...What the hell is going on here?" Dunn asked shakily.

"I don't know..." Foley muttered as they took to shadowing the two girls in hopes of finding out more about this strange place they found themselves in.

The two girls kept walking until they came to a room and entered it. Foley and his men slipped over to it and read the plaque, which read _"Briefing Room"_. Ramirez slowly opened the door a crack to see what was going on when his eyes were assualted by all of the girls within in the same state of dress...Or undress depending out your point of view and let out a startled yelp that alerted all of the girls within.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Mio barked, the three Rangers falling through the door in surprise as Minna barked out orders.

"Major, restrain them!" She yelled as Mio, Shirley, herself, and Barkhorn all moved in quickly to subdue these unknowns.

"Holy crap! She's got a freaking sword!"

"Ramirez! Hang on!"

"What the hell's going on, man?"

The ruckus inside there got the attention of the two other visitors currently roaming the halls.

_**"Price...Mason here. Did you hear that?"**_ He asked.

_**"Yeah...Meet me there, we'll check it out."**_ Price replied.

A moment later, they met up at the room and stacked up at the door, preparing to breach. A swift boot to the door from Price gained them entry into the room, where they saw a gaggle of scantily clad girls wrestling a trio of what appeared to be Army Rangers to the ground.

"Los Angeles Police! Hands up!" Mason ordered out of reflex, his carbine trained in the middle of the room. A few of the girls put their hands up on reflex while Price looked to the downed Rangers.

"What the hell are you lot doing here? You with Shepherd?" He asked, his rifle trained on Dunn as he stood over him.

"Shepherd? What the hell are you talking about, man? We don't even know what the hell's happening here! One minute, we were sweeping downtown D.C after the invasion and nearly get our heads blown off, then we get zapped into the freaking ocean!" Dunn explained in a nutshell as Price scanned each Ranger's face, seeing no deception, only confusion.

"Shepherd was overall commander of U.S military forces. You were under that bastard's command and that same bastard betrayed us, killed off my team. So you see that we can't trust you just yet." Price explained.

The girls were confused as to what the hell just happened. Five strangely dressed men were here, talking about something they couldn't understand. The two men who kicked the door in were angry with a man named Shepherd, one man with a Liberion accent and the other Brittainian, both looking pretty beat up and the Liberion man in obvious pain. The other three were distinctly Liberion. Minna stepped forward.

"Excuse me...But what are you talking about and why are you here?" She demanded, talking to the eldest of the men, Price.

"My name is John Price, former SAS Captain and current field commander for Task Force 141." Price answered her, but his question remained.

"Who's in charge here? I need to talk to him." Price replied, his eyes not leaving the Rangers.

"She's right here." Minna answered him, her russet colored eyes boring into him.

Price had heard of female base CO's, but none so young. He relented and signaled to Mason for stand down. Price explained his situation while the youngest of the men looked around for anything that would give him a clue as to where they were and his eyes fell on a calender. He just couldn't believe his eyes and prayed that they just hadn't changed the calender in 70 years. Dunn noticed him muttering to himself.

_"Madre de Dios...__**(Mother of God in Spanish)**_" He whispered.

"Ramirez...Hey man, what's wrong?" Dunn asked as the younger Ranger handed him the calender.

"Oh, you've _got_ to be kidding...1945?" Dunn muttered aloud.

"We went back in _time_? Great...After I thought this couldn't get ant weirder..." Foley remarked.

"Well...It's the truth. The date is March 13th, 1945. You are currently in the Base of Operations for the 501 Joint Fighter Wing, The Strike Witches." Mio answered in a matter-of-fact tone, all five men suddenly growing pale.

"Holy crap..." Mason muttered out, his breath shaky.

"That can't be right..." Price added, winceing due to his injuries and fatigue.

"Well...You guys look like hell." Shirley commented on their condition.

"She's right...You guys look so beat up, but I can take a look if you want." Yoshika offered, but Price and Mason waved her off.

"It's alright. Our injuries aren't that bad and we can wait." Mason replied calmly. A moan from down the hall got their attention.

"Soap! Hang on, mate! I'm comin'!" Price yelled as he burst out the door, Mason following him.

The rest of them decided to follow and see what was happening. Once they opened the door, their noses were assualted by the mettalic smell of blood...Lots of it. A sixth man was laying on one of the tables, hastily patched up, but his bleeding was severe. From the pale color of his skin, he didn't have long. Dunn ran up with his med kit and offered his services, being a rated Medic.

"Let me see. I'm a Medic and I might be able to help him." Dunn stated. Price looked apprehensive at first, but relented and let Dunn get close.

"Holy shit...This is really bad. If I had treated him sooner, there might be a chance, but with what I have on me..." Dunn trailed off, shaking his head. Yoshika piped up.

"I can heal him with my magic!" She declared, all five men looking at her like she was a freaking martian.

Mio noticed the looks she was getting and reaffirmed her claims.

"She can. Let her help." Mio, the eye patched girl in the white officer's jacket stated. Nodding to the younger witch, Yoshika stepped up to the dying man and concentriated.

To their utter disbelief, she began to glow, sprouting Shiba-Inu ear and a tail. She then let her hands hover above the nasty wound as Soap began to glow faintly as well. A surprized look took over his features before his eyes rolled into the back of his head. The wound on his chest slowly stopped bleeding and actually began to mend to their amazement. After a few minutes, Yoshika stopped her treatment and turned to them with a smile.

"I'm finished! He'll be okay, now, but he needs to rest." Yoshika beamed as Price looked at the small girl in wonder before he got his bearings back.

"Good...Thank you." He thanked her as he found a seat, grunting form the pain in his body after Shepherd beat him up.

"That was pretty amazing..." Mason commented, to which Mio smirked.

"Miyafuji's healing magic truly is useful. Without her, we would have been out of commision long ago." Mio stated as Mason sat down, clutching his ribs as they sent a wave of sharp pain through him.

"You guys don't look so hot." Shirley commented aloud, pointing to Mason and Price.

"I got the piss beat out of me while the yank over here was caught in an explosion before we got chucked down the rabbit hole and ended up here." Price replied to the busty girls question.

"I can heal you guys, too, if you want!" Yoshika cut in, but her long haired friend seemed worried about that.

"But, Yoshika...You're tired from training and healing Mr. Soap." Lynnette protested, but the young Fuso girl sohok her head.

"If anyone is injured, I have to do what I can to help them. Besides, I feel fine!" Yoshika replied brightly as she asked Mason to lie down on the ground and remove his armor vest and top so she could get a feel for his injuries. Dunn walked over to give her a hand with the diagnosis.

"Two broken ribs, three cracked or bruised and a light concussion...That other guy said you were hit by the shockwave of a big explosion? Your armor probably saved your life." The Ranger Medic stated as Yoshika worked on him.

When Mason felt the healing magic wash over him, it was like being dunked in a very relaxing and warm bath as the pain seemed to dull to nothing. He felt his ribs seem to knit and heal all while feeling like he was on a euphoric high.

"Whoa...That felt really nice..." He murmured as he sat up, donning his gear once again as she turned to Price.

"Your turn!" She said as she had him lay down and she worked on him.

In the many years of experience one Captain John Alan Price has had in the field and in life, none came anywhere close to feeling as good as this magic did.

_'Healing magic, huh? Bloody hell...What I wouldn't have given for this after that incident with Zhakaev...You're one lucky bastard, Soap.'_ Price thought as he felt as if someone had given him a shot of the world best pain killer.

"Okay, Mr. Price! You're all better, now!" The young girl told him cheerfully, the 47 year old man sitting up in a daze. Nothing was aching anymore, not even that tooth Shepherd nearly knocked out.

"Thanks, luv." He thanked the girl once again as he stood back up, feeling like he'd just had the best night's sleep in his life as Soap woke up and looked around in a daze.

"Wh-what happened to me?" The Scottish man asked, seeing all of these young girls in just shirts and little else, three Army Rangers, another man with SWAT on his uniform, and his former CO helping him stand.

"Well...That girl over there saved your life, mate." Price said, explaining all that had happened thus far. Soap was of course wary of the Ranger's, but wasn't going to be hostile here, not where these children were and risk them getting hurt. He was very grateful, though, to Yoshika. He felt as if that life threatening wound never happened.

"Well...I guess I need to thank you. Eh, lass?" He thanked her with a smirk, but his stomach's growling loudly interrupted him.

"Heh...Guess I'm hungry." He admitted sheepishly, the rest of the men feeling their own hunger pangs calling loudly.

"Oh my...I guess I can make you all a good meal from my homeland!" Yoshika stated, the men perking up at the promise of a good meal.

"That's a wonderful idea, Miyafuji! A good meal and then were can further discuss this new situation we have found ourselves in." Minna suggested.

"That's great and all, but I believe we had better clean up in here, first." Gertrude Barkhorn, or just Trudy to her friends, suggested.

Looking around the room, they saw that the place was a little dishevled and there was a lot of blood from Soap's wounds.

"I s'pose I'd better clean up after m'self, then. Left a lotta blood." Soap sighed as he tried to sit up, but Price forced him back down.

"No...You just sit there and rest a bit, son. I'll clean that up." Price replied as he picked up a mop and bucket he saw in a corner and set to work, Mason and Ramirez already at work on righting the furniture.

"My wife would have me help get things ready for dinner on the nights I was actually home." Mason stated.

"My mom had me and all of my brothers and sisters help get dinner ready every night, so it's no big deal to pitch in." The normally silent Private stated. The two remaining Rangers shrugged as they help set the table and carry things out.

_**LATER...**_

Dinner had been very filling, most of the men asking for seconds which was something the young Fuso witch was more than happy to accomodate. They hadn't had a home cooked meal in ages, so they savored every bite of the Beef Bowl they were served. After that, they were led back to the briefing room where they could further explain their situation and what had happened.

"So...Who wants to start?" Minna asked.

"What did that Corporal say about an invasion in Washington? Did the Neuroi finally reach Liberion?" Shirley inquireed, worried that her homeland had fallen under attack.

"What country is that? What the bloody hell's a Neuroi?" Soap asked.

With this question, a long and drawn out Q & A session kicked off, starting off with why they didn't wear any pants, to which they explained about their Strike Units and that was why they needed to dress the way they did. They also threw in the history of their world and about the Witches in general, so that they had a better understanding of what was going on around them, but it was still somewhat awkward to see these girls in their dress code. The witches also introduced themselves , to which the men replied.

"The old man already introduced himself, so I'll go next. John MacTavish, Former SAS Commando, Captain and 2IC with Task Force 141 under Captain Price." Soap rattled off with his heavy Scottish accent.

_'He sounds just like my uncle Angus...'_ Lynne thought curiously.

"What is this Task Force 141 and the SAS?" Barkhorn asked.

"Task Force 141 was a multinational Counter Terrorist force that was founded to track down a man named Vladimir Makarov, who's killed countless people already and sparked the war we were fighting 'til we got brought here. The SAS is known as the Special Air Services, Britain's Special Forces." Price answered, the girls satisfied with the explaination but Mio wanted to know more, fascinated by all of this.

"Have you been doing this for a long time?" The Fuso officer asked.

"Well...I've been going about it for over twenty years." Price answered honestly.

"How about Mr. Soap?" Yoshika asked, Soap groaning when Price stifled a chuckle.

"That's just a nickname...Real one's John. John MacTavish, remember?" He reminded her, the young Fuso girl chuckling nerviously at being caught not paying attention. He didn't look annoyed, so she eased down.

"Ever since I passed selection 5 years ago, I've been working with the old man here. Taught me a lot. I was in the Royal Marines before that for 6 years." Soap answered. This time, Lynnette had a question for him.

"Where are you from, Mr. MacTavish? You sound just like my Uncle Angus. Are your from Britannia like Mr. Price?" She asked him. It was an honest enough question.

"Scotland. Around Eldersly." Soap answered her question, which seemed to satisfy her curiousity, but raised his about what his homeland was called here. The Q and A session ball seemed to be passed to the next person.

"Guess I'm next. Brad Mason, Los Angeles Police Department Special Weapons and Tactics Division, or SWAT. Lieutenant." he announced.

"Police? Then what's with the heavy weaponry?" Shirley asked.

"Well, SWAT is a para-military arm of the American Police Forces. We get called in to deal with things normal police can't handle. We conduct hostage rescue, heavy assualt, anti-terrorism, Riot Response, and a variety of other missions, since the criminals in our time are some real nasty customers. In short, Police Special Forces. But at our core, we are still police officers. Our primary objectives are to serve the public trust, protect the innocent, and uphold the law. Normally, a cop has to spend 3 years working the jails and twice that on street patrol, but I managed to bypass that with military experience." Mason explained, Price nodding.

"Some of those SWAT teams can hold their own against the professional military teams, so they're nothing to sneeze at. Last I heard, Los Angeles SWAT was the best America could offer. They held off the Russians for a good while with little manpower." The veteran Captain added appraisingly.

Trudy and Mio were impressed that these Special Forces teams were so skilled and venerable. To them, it would have taken a lot of discipline and training to make things like that possible. However, he mentioned military experience.

"You mentioned military service?" Mio inquired, interested.

"Yeah...I served in the U.S Navy SEALs DEVGRU, Gold Team for 8 years. Served in several different hotspots and saw a lot of combat, so SWAT wanted that experience." Mason answered. Of course, they wanted to know what the SEALs were, but Soap answered for him.

"SEALs stands for Sea, Air, Land. They are one of the top Special Forces units in the world, along with the SAS. I've worked with them before, and I was highly impressed." Soap explained. Price had his own two cents to add.

"On top of that, we've also worked with JSOC units before, Army Delta. Those men were some of the best I've ever worked with." Price added.

"Well, SAS is nothing to sneeze at, either. I mean, just the fact that you're still doing this is proof enough that the Brits do it right with their Spec Ops guys." Mason complimented.

"The three of us are with the U.S Army Rangers, 1st Battalion 75th Regiment. I'm Sergeant David Foley. Next is my 2IC, Corporal Mike Dunn and finally, Private James Ramirez." Foley explained.

"Rangers? I don't recall Liberion having a unit by that name..." Minna wondered.

"The Army Rangers were founded in 1942 in our world, in WWII. Our unit, the 75th Regiment, is occasionally tasked with Special Operations from time to time. We were last in America's capitol, fighting off the Russians." Dunn elaborated.

"America? But you guys have to be from Liberion, like me. I mean, that flag patch on your uniforms look a little like the Liberion flag, and Washington DC and Los Angeles are both major Liberion cities." Shirley said of the four Americans.

"Err...Yeah...Anyway, we were fighting off the Russian Invasion in DC when we were brought here." Dunn finished when Ramirez nudged him.

"They don't call 'em Russians here. What was it again?" Ramirez asked himself.

"Orussians. We are called Orussians." Sanya answered in a voice that was little more than a whisper.

"Oh. Right." Dunn replied apathetically. To him, a Russian my any other name was still a Russian. They were the ones who killed his family and he swore he'd make them pay. Eila didn't like the way he was staring at her.

"Leave her alone!" Eila lashed out.

"Easy. You have to understand how things are where we came from. The Russians invaded our country, ripped it apart, and killed countless people over something we had no part in." Mason defended.

"Well...It's not our problem, so keep your man in check." Perrine retorted, making all six men scowl.

"You know...I wasn't going to blame that little girl, anyway. This is a wholly different world than the one we came from and I'd like to think we're smart ennough to tell the difference. Besides, the Russians took something from me, too." Mason replied, trying to stay calm.

"And what would that be?" She goaded.

"My wife and two daughters, the oldest of which is probably that Miyafuji girl's age, around 15. My youngest was only 10 when the Russians murdered them in cold blood." Mason snapped, Perrine being taken aback.

"I...I'm sorry..." Sanya apologized, but the man ruffled her hair lightly with his gloved hand.

"It's alright, sweetie...It's not like you or your people here did anything wrong." He sighed, waving off her apology but she gave him a hug anyway. She was very sensitive to the feelings of others and knew that these people were in distress. She was trying to help them the only way she knew how. Besides, this man reminded her of her own father in a way.

The girls felt really bad for the man. It was obvious that it hurt to talk about it and let the subject fall by the wayside, but Minna vowed to have a talk with Perrine about her attitude. Ramirez noticed that he was from LA, like himself.

"Hey man...Did you know Eduardo Ramirez?" The young private asked.

"Yeah...I did. He was a Sergeant in the Gang Busters Unit over at Parker Center. Why?" Mason replied.

"He was my eldest brother." Ramirez answered.

"Wait...You're Art's youngest boy, aren't you?" Mason ventured.

"Yeah! I think I remember you, too! You used to slip me candy sometimes and my elder sister babysat your kids...Amy and Jenna, right?" Ramirez recollected, making Minna and a couple other witches smile at the friendly banter. Even his own squadmates didn't know this much about the young private.

"This guy a friend of yours?" Foley asked.

"He was a real good friend of my dad's before he retired from the LAPD and I used to play with his kids when my sister Gizelle used to babysit them." Ramirez answered his Sergeant.

"What happened to them? Are they alright?" Ramirez inquired, but was dreading the answer when his face grew grim.

"Don't know how to tell you this, but they're all gone. After that bastard Shepherd yanked his forces out of the area, the Russians tore right through us. Russians got hold of a duty roster at Parker Center and hunted down everyone that could be a threat to them and gunned them down. Sorry, kid." Mason told him sadly.

The young private didn't know how to feel, but he felt numb all over and unable to speak as he slumped to the floor. Dunn knew how they both felt, having lost his own family the same way and some of the girls knew, too. Sanya gave the young private a hug, also, Ramirez flinching slightly as she did.

_'These Russians sound very brutal...Killing innocent people like that. That is not the duty of a soldier, but the impulses of a brute and a thug.'_ Mio surmised with a frown.

"About why the Russians invaded...I think I know how and why." Soap offered.

He told the story of how Shepherd recruited a new guy into the Task Force and gave him the mission of shadowing Makarov while he and Roach had to recover an important module the Russians nicked. During this mission, the Zhakhaev Airport incident massacre happened. Allen was forced to take part to keep his cover intact. What wasn't counted on was the fact that Makarov knew about Allen and killed him before escaping, leaving all of those dead at the feet of an American. It didn't help that they all spoke English and used American weapons for the massacre. Allen's mission was supposed to be the assassination of Makarov, but instead it sparked World War 3.

"In your world...People fight people?" Lynnette questioned.

"Yeah...Been that way for a long time. This makes the third global war we've been through in the past 100 years. This year was supposed to be the end of the Second World War, my father fought in it against Germany." Price sighed as he explained the bloody history of their world and timeline. It had already been established that this was some sort of alternate timeline.

The girls all paled at the implications of their history and asked themselves one thing : If the Neuroi hadn't come, would they have been fighting and killing each other? It chilled them all to the bone thinking about it, especially the actions of Karlsland's other world counterpart, Nazi Germany. The three witches from that country visibly cringed as Price described just a portion of the atrocities they commited.

"Anyway...These Neuroi things...No one knows where they came from?" Mason asked, trying to put a lid on the sensitive subject.

"No...Not really. Back in 1939, they just suddenly showed up and began to attack. No warnings...Just complete annhilation. Our conventional military were taking crippling losses and were almost helpless against them, but in 1941, Doctor Miyafuji invented the Striker Units, giving us a fighting chance once again. Countless young witches from all over the world answered the call to arms without hesitation and took to the skies and in the trenches as Land Witches." Minna explained.

"Sounds interesting. So, the grunts probably love you guys. I'd be singing your praises if I was out there." Foley ventured.

"If that were only true..." Minna sighed, making the men wonder what was wrong until Mio took over.

"You see, while many do consider us as vital and give their all to support us, there are still those who openly resent us. Many of them are in positions of power and would love to see the Witches fail, and replace us with something else." Mio scowled.

"Why would anyone mess with a winning combination like that? Sounds like some of your brass was daft to me." Price chimed in.

"That it does, Captain. Sadly, that didn't stop them from trying." Barkhorn said, explaining the Warlock incident in it's entireity.

"That Maloney bastard...Sounds too much like Shepherd to me. Results and damn everyone and everything in his way." Soap grimaced.

"Just what happened with this Shepherd that you keep mentioning?" Mio asked. In return, she was given the story behind the 141...It's origin, inception, and it's demise.

"30,000 soldiers in the blink of an eye...Horrible..." The youngest of the Witches, Franchesca Lucchini, wimpered as she shivered. Even thought the Neuroi have killed just as many people, this was humans doing this to other humans, something that positively frightened her.

"Aye...That changed him. After that, he started sending his men into the meat grinder." Soap affirmed.

"I know what you mean, man...Shepherd didn't give a damn about danger close. Never mattered to him how many died to reach his goals, just as long as he got what he wanted." Dunn spat.

Minna disliked commanders like Shepherd, who threw away the lives of their subordinates carelessly. Maloney was very much the same way, as Captain MacTavish had pointed out. They were well justified in feeling the way they did. Even the fact that they killed Shepherd didn't bother her too much, since he had turned traitor and killed his own Special Forces Task Force, branding them as traitors instead and tarnishing their names to make himself a hero. The added fact that he left an entire area to the non-existant mercy of these Russians didn't help, either. The police and the Task Force bravely stood their ground, something that she greatly respected.

After a few more hours, the need for sleep was beginning to take them over, Minna offering them rooms in the base.

"Major, would you and Lieutenant Hartmann please show them to the unused rooms in the West Wing? I don't know if the rooms have sheets or not, but if they don't please escort them to supply to draw them." Minna ordered, but Mio wanted a word with her.

"Minna...There's something that doesn't feel right about having them here..." Mio whispered.

"These men did not come here by choice and have nowhere to go. On top of that, they had the ability and firepower to overwhelm this entire base with little effort, but I know they won't do it. They are good, honest men and I know they will prove trustworthy. Look at how they handled the questions before and the aura they seem to give off. They look intimidating, but they view us as friendlies and possibly allies. They trust us, so we need to extend some good faith." Minna confided in her 2IC.

Mio knew that Minna's judgement of character was second to none, but still had her own reservations, due to experiences when she was a young witch. A man that had been her mentor had suddenly turned on her and nearly raped her if she hadn't had her sword, Reppumaru with her. She didn't want anyone, the girls under her especially, to go through that. She turned and followed her orders, Hartmann skipping along behind her.

"Commander Minna has arranged for three rooms for the six of you, so if you would please follow me." Mio called out. The men simply shrugged and followed the Fuso Major to where they would bunk down for the night. As they reached the three rooms, Mio turned and faced the six men, a serious look on her face.

"Look...Commander Minna trusts you enough to let you stay here, but I still have my misgivings about this. I only ask one thing of you...Respect the privacy of my girls and I will respect yours." Mio declared, her ultimatum laid bare.

"No quarrel with me or Soap." Price replied.

"None here." Mason answered.

"Will do, ma'am." Foley replied, aknowledging her as a superior officer. Mio grinned.

"Good. I'm glad we have this understanding. Now, I see that all three rooms have linens in the already. There are two to a room, so please give your bunk assignments to Lieutenant Hartmann and she will record them with our duty office. Good night to you all." She bowed to them and left for her quarters, satisfied with their answer.

"Well...I guess it's Soap and myself in one room." Price stated.

"Then, me and Sarge are in another." Dunn announced.

"Guess that leaves me and the youngun'." Mason replied, Ramirez nodding.

"That was easy!" Hartmann chirped as she jotted down the names and rooms and turned to skip away, but Mason called out.

"Hold on a minute...I still need to go get my SWAT van. It's got all of my equipment in it and it's in the forest just outside the base. I need to secure it before someone finds it." Mason requested.

"Huh...I'll go with you and get you through the gates and into the motorpool!" Erica told him as Ramirez spoke up.

"I...uh, guess I'll go too." He stated, drawing no arguments from his Sarge.

As they took off, Price and Soap began to relax after that filling meal and get ready to get some sleep, squaring away their gear and weapons before hand out of habit.

"Finally...Sleeping in a real bed..." Soap stated as he slowly laid down on the bed.

"Ohh...That feels nice..." The mohawked Scot groaned with relief as he quickly fell asleep, snoring inside of a few minutes.

Price stayed up for a few more moments to think on things for a minute, placing his Boonie Hat on the corner post of his bed.

_'Things got weird...Like a Doctor Who episode, but at least we're alive and that Miyafuji girl really saved Soap's arse...I wonder if we can even go back. Shepherd's out of the picture, but now we need to deal with Makarov. Maybe I can crack this DSM and find anything worthwhile.'_ Price thought as he squared his weapons and supplies away before settling down to sleep, keeping his .45 close just in case.

Dunn simply crashed into his bed without even changing out while Foley simply shook his head and organized his things before going to sleep.

_'So...Shepherd is even more of a bastard than I thought possible. He possibly knew that he was sending Allen to his death and sparking WW3, but didn't care. If...No...When we get back, I going to help Price expose that bastard's actions.'_ Foley thought as he slipped off to sleep.

Outside the base, Mason led Hartmann and Ramirez to where his SWAT van had been stashed and opened it up, the young Karlsland witch reading the lettering on the side of the van.

"To Serve...And Protect..." She read.

"Yep...That's the credo all law officers live their lives by." Mason replied as he dug his keys out of his pocket and jumped into the drivers seat, Hartmann and Ramirez hopping in the other side as he cranked over the engine.

"Hmm...About half a tank of gas left...Good." He muttered as he eased the big vehicle in reverse, then back onto the road to the base.

Hartmann popped out and got him cleared to head to the motorpool, where it would remain parked. As they parked the van and hopped out, Ramirez and Mason looked around at all of the vintage vehicles...At least to them...In awe...Especially the M4 Sherman tank standing proudly by it's lonesome.

"What I wouldn't give to drive that..." Mason nearly drooled.

"Yeah..." The young private agreed with his impromptu roommate as Hartmann giggled at them until he opened up the back once again to reveal the arsenal he had inside.

"Whoa...You were packing a whole armory back here." Ramirez whistled.

"These look kinda cool..." Hartmann added as she got a closer look at the Vector.

"Oh, that? That is the TDI Vector Sub-Machine Gun. We got those just a few months before the invasion and we loved 'em. Accurate and hard hitting, firing .45 ACP rounds at 1000 rounds per minute." Mason explained to the young witch as she picked up a Riot Shield and helmet with the LAPD insignia on it that she found in a locker labeled Riot Gear.

"What's this stuff?" She asked.

"That is a Riot Shield and Helmet. We usually used those during riot suppression and other related missions to protect ourselves. They can take several hits from high powered rounds before breaking, making them invaluable. The other things are the Riot Concussion Grenades and the Taser." The veteran SWAT officer told her.

"What the heck is a Tazer?" Hartmann asked.

"It's a non-lethal weapon that we use to take suspects in alive for questioning. What it does, is it shoots out these two probes with compressed air and when the probes hit the target, you can then send out a crippling electrical charge that takes them down." The SWAT vet replied.

"Cool...Too bad it wouldn't help against the Neuroi..." She commented as she picked up another weapon, making both the Ranger and Officer go wide eyed.

"Whoa! Easy there...That's an RPG-7. A rocket launcher like the one I had on my back. One of these rockets would reduce one of your tanks to scrap in one clean hit, so be very careful with it." Ramirez explained this time.

"Neat! I bet that would really punch a hole in a Neuroi!" Hartmann chirped, but yawned.

"It's getting late, so I'm gonna go to bed now...Bye!" She said, skipping her way to her room, the eyes of the motorpool personnel now upon them. Ramirez and Mason just gazed at them and they hastily looked away.

"C'mon. Grab those three ammo cans while I get this, and I'll lock this stuff up. You and your boys can fill your mags with this stuff in the morning." Mason instructed, grabbing a small satchel and a shotgun with a bandolier of shells.

"Yeah...I'm beat and I just wanna sleep for a while." The young Ranger yawned, hefting the cans and the two headed off to their room.

"So...What's your take on all this?" Ramirez asked enroute to the room.

"Well...I know I'm not dreaming. Besides, these are good girls. They didn't have to let us stay here and could have has us chased out, let MacTavish die, not feed us, or held us prisoner. That makes them alright in my book. It's just hard for me to see girls around the same age as my daughters walking around dressed as they are. I know they have a reason for it, but...It's damn awkward." Mason replied.

"Guess you're right." Ramirez reasoned as he nudged the door open with a foot and set the stuff down in a corner near their carbines. However, he was a young man entering his prime, all of 20 years old, and he knew a few of them had to be at least 18. One can't blame a red blooded young man for looking a little longer than necessary.

Seeing that they both had desks, Mason began to dress down and arrange his gear and weapons with mags ejected and chambers cleared. Ramirez simply shrugged and followed the older man's lead, wondering if he had been in the military before since he was this organized.

"Hey...You were in the service before, right? I never got around to asking you what branch you served in. Hell, that was why I even joined." He asked.

"Yeah...With the Navy. I was a SEAL with Team 6, Navy DEVGRU for 8 years." Mason answered, draping his armor vest over the back of his chair, opening the window to let in some fresh air, and conking right out, the young private passing out like a light in the comfortable bed he was provided with.

"I feel kinda inadequate..." Ramirez mumbled, all of these older guys around that were complete badasses like those two 141 guys and his new roommate.

_ A/N : That ends the first chapter of this new fic. As stated before, Bucue helped me with a critique before I published this, so that means he got to read this before anyone else and got his blessing. Just wanted to point that out before anyone tried to cry plagurism. Also, if you want a basic idea on what Mason's combat gear looks like, picture the SWAT from Deadliest Warrior with Dragon Skin Ballistic Armor._

_ Anyway...Some terms that can be explained._

_ .45 ACP stands for .45 Caliber American Colt Pistol._

_ The M6A2 is a REAL Carbine. Manufactured by LWRC Firearms. It's chambered in 6.8x43mm Remington SPC, or Special Purpose Cartridge._

_ The Vector is a real SMG that is also known as the Kriss Super-V. Chambered in .45 cal, it has a cyclic rate around 1000 rounds per minute._

_ DEVGRU is short for United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group, a Tier One Spec Ops force and one of the best on the face of the planet. The selection process HAS had fatalities, making it also one of the hardest to join, like the Russian Spetznaz._

_ Navy SOCOM stands for Navy Special Operations Command. Technically, Navy DEVGRU falls under JSOC, along with Army Delta. I threw that in due to Operation Kingfish. They would know about the connection Delta and DEVGRU would have. Mason, Price, and Soap have a lot in common with the fact that they were all members of Tier One Special Forces groups._

_ JSOC stands for Joint Special Operations Command, which involves Navy SEAL Team 6 or DEVGRU, Army Delta, and the Air Force's 24th Special Tactics Squadron officially. Though, on occasion, 75th Rangers and a few other units can fall under their command if the need arises. They also work closely with CIA SAD (Special Activities Division...Just think Black Ops.) on many occasions. These people also work with the Task Forces quite often, so there is a chance that Price and Mason worked together in the past._


	2. Baptism by Fire

_ Hello...I'm back with the next chapter. Tell me what you think of the Title and what you think it should be. To be honest, no good title came to mind for this. Well...Enjoy reading, my friends._

_**THE NEXT MORNING...**_

Before the sun rose up on the 501st Base, one of the men was already stirring. He sat up and for a moment forgot where he was.

_'Oh yeah...That wierd little cosmic trip...'_ He remembered as he quietly dressed himself, leaving everything but his sidearm and tazer.

Just as he finished tying up his boots, the door to his room opened a crack. On reflex, he grabbed and loaded his Glock 17 sidearm.

"Who is it?" He asked, his tone commanding as he readied himself, cocking the hammer back.

"Do you greet everyone this way?" Captain Barkhorn asked dryly. Seeing her, he sighed and hung up his sidearm.

"Sorry about that. Just momentarily forgot where I was." He apologised as she scanned the room.

She was looking at it as if she were conducting room inspections, but was surprized by the high level of organization she saw from a couple of supposedly laid-back Liberion men, right up there with a disciplined Karlsland soldier.

_'These two keep a clean room...I'm actually impressed.'_ She thought as she answered him.

"It's alright. Under the circumstances, I completely understand why you were a little jumpy." She replied.

"So, what are you doing awake so early?" She asked.

"I was hoping to see a little more of this base and maybe tour some of those old vehicles. I was a history buff and most of them were only museum pieces in my time. After that, I was hoping to get some PT in before breakfast." He told her.

"Oh...In that case, why don't I join you? I can show you around at the same time." She offered as two more of the men woke up and stumbled out of their rooms.

"Ah...Captains Price and MacTavish...Did you sleep well?" She asked.

"Yeah...Slept bloody right well." Price commented as he stretched out his arms.

"Same 'ere. Haven't slept in a nice bed like that in a while." Soap added, popping his back.

"I was just about to show the Lieutenant around the base and our training grounds if you'd like to join us." Gertrud invited them. Normally, she was cold to most people, but these men hardly qualified as most people. She was eager to see just what these men from a different reality could do on the obstacle course.

_**BASE MOTORPOOL**_

Taking them down the main foyer, she remembered that Frau, aka Erika Hartmann, went with the Lieutenant last night to fetch something of his.

"What was it that she helped you bring on base? I'm assuming it was a vehicle of some kind." She surmised.

"It is. It's the SWAT van that was brought with me when I was unceremoniously dumped here. Good thing I was, or I'd be dead now." He replied, Trudy remembering the conversation they all had last night.

"Hmm...I'd like to see it." She asked, interested in what policemen when they were from had if he was so well trained. He shrugged and they headed down to the motorpool, where they were headed anyway and he unlocked the van, letting her inside to see the equipment.

"I saw that on the outside it said, _"To Serve and Protect."_**. **Is that your unit's creed?" She asked.

"Actually, it's the motto of the LAPD. Most major units in our world have a motto or saying of some kind. The Marines was Semper Fidelis, or Always Faithful. The Ranger's is Rangers Lead the Way. The SEALs, which I was in, was The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday." Mason responded.

"Ours was Who Dares Wins." Price added as he got a closer look at some of the gear he had, since the last time he was in there, he was too busy keeping Soap from bleeding out.

Gertrud's eyes were drawn to the Riot Gear, seeing the shields and extra armor.

"That is the Riot Gear. Like I told your Lieutenant Hartmann, it's for suppressing riots and dangerous situations. The launcher next to it shoots out Tear Gas canisters, that make crowds disperse without hurting them too much. Next to is is the Tazer, it can render a person completely unconscious without any lasting damage. Then, there's the Baton Rounds for my shotgun. They fire rubber projectiles to help subdue a suspect without killing them. It's all non-lethal weaponry in there." He responded to her questions, when she saw Soap dig out a rifle from another locker.

"Nice...I'll bet these little puppies came in handy." Soap chuckled as she asked him what it was.

"The Mk 14 EBR Semi-Auto Sniper Rifle. A bloody well made piece of hardware chambered in .308 Winchester, or 7.62x51mm rounds with a 10 or 20 round detachible box magazine. It's got a range up to damn near 2 clicks." The Scot explained.

"Really? A semi-auto sniper rifle? This is a vast improvement. A bit on the heavy side, though." Trudy surmised, handling the rifle and checking the action.

"This was originally a battle rifle made by Springfield Armories called the M-14 around 5 years before Vietnam War, around 40 to 50 years ago in our time. It was retired in favor of much lighter and full auto assault rifles like the M16. However, while I was in the SEALs, a decision was made to dig them out and use them as Sniper Rifles for SEAL units. It was literally an inexpensive and viable solution for a very expensive problem. These rifles are so reliable, that we were able to use them right out of the mothballed crates, no cleaning or parts changing involved. On top of that, some years later, Naval Special Warfare Command developed the Mk 14 Mod 0 EBR. They updated the design, made this Universal Rail System that was introduced on later models of the M16 all of it's countless variants that followed so that a wide range of optical sights can be easily switched out." Mason offered.

"But we've got a better one. Up in the room, we have the CheyTac Intervention Anti-Material Sniper Rifle, chambered in .408 CheyTac. That bloody rifle can reach out and tag a human sized target from over a mile away and it even has a suppressor on it to keep the noise down." Soap answered her question, the Karlsland witch nodding since she understood ballistic terms and was enjoying this rousing bout of gun talk. A 2+ km range was highly impressive to say the least and that M14 was even semi-auto, not a bolt action. One of the only witches she knew could really use such weapons effectively was Sgt. Lynnette Bishop, the sharpshooter of their squadron.

"Bloody hell...You even have RPG's? It's like Christmas came early this year." Soap asked, holding up a launcher.

"Yep. Stole what I could from the Russians while wiping them out. Too bad the LMG's and other heavy weapons were in the other van. Had a couple of M-60E4's, a couple of Russian RPD's, and we managed to salvage a M134 Gatling Gun off of a wrecked Humvee, but we left it behind. Got about thrity or so rockets in the compartments under the seats, though." Mason replied, kicking open on compartment to let them see.

"PG-7VR's? You must have done some tank killin'." Price commented.

"What is that thing?" Barkhorn asked.

"Well missy...This is the Russian made RPG-7 Rocket Launcher. Fires these rocket propelled grenades that can shred most modern armored targets like tissue paper." Soap answered her questioned.

"That sounds like they could he useful against the Neuroi!" She realized, feeling that even one of the more heavily armored Land Neuroi would be severely damaged if hit by one of these modern anti-tank rockets.

"Well, well...I've heard of these, but never got to see them up close." Price appraised, holding up something else she became interested in, prompting Mason to introduce it, handing her one minus the magazine.

"Oh ho...Let me introduce you to a good friend of mine...Made by the Land Warfare Research Company, LWRC, is the M6A2 PSD Carbine. It's a pretty stable platform, with a foregrip for added accuracy and top mounted optics for faster target acquisition. It handles just like the M4A1's and the M16A4's that most U.S forces and our allies use, but it's more compact, easier to handle in tight spaces, and chambered with a new type of rifle round. Since the 7.62x39mm round of the AK-47 that our enemies mostly use has a lot of power and penetration, but it's accuracy blows at longer ranges and it's range isn't too hot either, and sometimes the 5.56x45mm just lacks the punching power needed. In light of that, a company called Remington, that's been making guns and ammo for over 100 years in our world, developed these little beauties...The 6.8x43mm SPC, or Special Purpose Cartridge." He told her, holding up all three rounds for a comparison.

She held them in her hand and looked at the difference. She could see that the 6.8mm round was the middle of the road, but she sensed that it wasn't all.

"You see...These combine the stopping power and penetration of the AK-47 with the long range and accuracy of the 5.56mm round that is the norm. These were only recently developed in the past few years, so the military still doesn't use them very much. The police forces snapped them up to beef up their arsenal to combat the growing threat of better armed and armored criminals...You know what? After breakfast, if you can reserve some time at a shooting range, I'll set up these weapons for you and any of the other witches who want to try them. I've got tons of ammo, since we managed to cram everything this crate could handle in here. It's like a mobile armory." Mason offered, the Karlsland Captain's eyes lighting up.

"One question. Can that M6A2 accept optics and underbarrels from an M4?" Price asked.

"Umm...I never tried it, but we can find out later, if you want." Mason answered, making Price smirk.

"Nice..." He murmured as they shut up the van and left to the obstacle course.

_**TRAINING GROUNDS**_

_**OBSTACLE COURSE**_

At the tree line next to the course, Major Mio Sakamoto was hard at work honing her mind and body through rigorous training. At this moment, she was practicing with her katana, Reppumaru. Reppumaru wasn't just an ordinary sword. She had forged it from scratch herself years ago, pouring every fiber of her being and possibly her very soul into it's creation. She folded it sharp over 500 times, becoming ungodly sharp and extremely durable, but that wasn't the only special quality about it. No...This katana was a Neuroi Slayer and a Beam Cutter, making her the first and at this point, only witch in history to ever score a kill with a blade and slice a Neuroi Laser in half.

Despite her rousing victories and solid reputation amongst not only the witches, but in military circles in general, she was her own worst critic, hence why she drove herself to improve more and more, especially since her magic was dying out, her shield also very weak. She was the oldest witch in the squadron, at 20 years old, and a battle hardened commander and veteran, but witches her age lose their magic. There are exceptions, such as the women of the Miyafuji family, but they are extremely rare, Yoshika being the only daughter of the dying bloodline. That was the reason _why_ the witches were so young and none were over the age of 21. However, Mio sought to overcome this through sheer force of will, along with a Striker Unit that maximized what little power remained within her. She would keep on fighting up to the very end, as was her nature.

She was still hard at work when a group of footfalls announced themselves, coming her way. She stopped what she was doing to go see who had come to join her when she saw Captain Barkhorn showing three of the men from last night to the training course. She recognized them as the three Special Forces Operators and the three oldest of the men, the eldest looked to be at least in his late 40's. When she saw them go through a few practice stretches along with Price and MacTavish removing their gear, she decided to walk over.

"Captain Barkhorn...I see that you're out training early, as usual." Mio greeted.

Trudy held a deep amount of respect for the Major. She was the woman that she herself, one of the famous Karlsland Aces, aspired to be and looked up to. Strong, disciplined, focused, and an all around hard charger and excellent leader.

"Yes ma'am! I saw that they were also up early and looking for a place to exercise, so I had them follow me to the training course." Trudy belted out in true military fashion, leaving Price impressed with her military bearing, so well-trained for one so young.

"Really? I would like to see what these men can do on our course. Last night, I was rather intrigued by their stories and would like to see them in action." Mio mused as Soap had a question for her.

"Is that a real katana?" He asked, having seen one only in a display case at the London Museum.

"Yes...It is, Captain. This is my personally made sword, Reppumaru." She told him, allowing him to get a good look at it. He whistled appraisingly.

"You made this yourself? That's damn fine workmanship. Looks pretty strong." He commented, highly impressed. She smirked a bit at his comment.

"I've killed a Neuroi with this blade, so I would trust it with my life." She replied as he finished going through his stretches. She also noticed that Mason kept on averting his eyes away form the witches and was wondering why he was acting this way, but she thought to leave it until after they ran the course.

"What's the top time?" Price inquired, noticing that she had pulled a stopwatch out of her coat pocket.

"1 minute, 20 seconds. Set by myself." Mio replied as they lined up to run it.

"Good. Gives us something to aim for." He told her as he went first.

Mio and Trudy were both very impressed that a man his age could still move so well.

"He must keep himself in excellent shape to traverse this course so quickly." Barkhorn commented.

"Yes. Even though most his age would say that they are too old, he still trains and is thus still a man to be reckoned with." Mio answered, her respect for this man increasing even more as he finished the course in 1 minute, 10 seconds.

"How'd I do?" He asked, not even winded.

"You beat my time by ten seconds. Very well done, Captain. I must ask you, though...How old are you?" Mio praised.

"Just turned 50 a month ago." He replied off handedly, making the two witches eyes go wide as Mason got ready to run the course.

Once given the signal, he ran the course swiftly and smoothly, lending credence to what he had told them about his training. His time was 1:16. Next was Soap, who was a few seconds slower due to his bulky muscle, but still beat the Major's time by one second.

"I see that the three of you must train hard on a regular basis. You all have a very commendable work ethic." Mio commended, her overall respect for them rising even more as they continued with hard calisthenics and some basic CQC sparring when they all heard reveille being called.

"Ah...I guess we should all head in for a well deserved breakfast after such a good workout." Mio suggested as the three men and Karlsland witch nodded in agreement, the small troupe heading into the mess hall.

_'These two have some of the best discipline I've ever seen and they're so young. Those two have some real promise.'_ Price thought.

_**BACK IN THE WEST WING**_

The bugle call of reveille made all three Rangers wake up almost on command, a reflex beaten into them in basic. Ramirez rose to see that his roommate was already out and about, leaving his major equipment behind. Shrugging, the young private got dressed in his BDU and gear, walking over next door to see if his Sarge and Dunn were up yet. A groan let him know that at least Dunn was stirring, but when he peeked in, Foley was already dressed and saw him.

"Ramirez...Good to see that you're up already. Come on in." Foley told him as he kicked Dunn's bed post to further motivate him.

"C'mon Corporal...Revellie. Let's go." The Sarge added as Dunn sat up and shook out the cobwebs.

"So private, where did you go with the Lieutenant and that Hartmann girl last night?" He asked.

"Oh yeah...We went to get his SWAT van that came with him. We brought up three ammo cans so we could all fill our mags up." Ramirez told him.

"Really? Good, I was down to my last mag." Foley replied as they all headed back that way to re-stock.

"Nice...The LT even had 7.62mm for the SCAR-H." Dunn commented while they re-loaded. After they were done, the three decided that they could do with some chow before getting some training in. In Foley's logic, there was no reason to let themselves go even if they wound up here.

_**DINING HALL**_

Mio, Barkhorn, and the three SF men strode into in the dining hall and into the delectable smell of whatever was being whipped up in the kitchen. Two other witches had come down for breakfast, Shirley and Commander Minna were inside having some breakfast Lynnette had fixed up for them, Bangers and Mash with some Scones she baked just that morning. The smell practically dragged the men in by the nose to see the young Brittanian girl setting down more plates for them.

"Good morning! I hope everyone's hungry!" She stated in a chipper voice.

"Ohh...That smells bloody good, luv." Soap murmured.

"Mmm...Yeah...Reminds me of my wife's cooking. Thanks, sweetie." Mason added.

"You're welcome, Mr. MacTavish, Mr. Mason." She replied, beaming under the praise as the three men sat down.

"Yep. That's our Lynne, a master chef." Shirley remarked as she took a good bite of the sausage.

The three men dug into their food and were swept up in a whirlwind of flavor. For the men, this was a good ol' homemade breakfast, something they hadn't had in a long time. Price then tried the Scones and his tea, and was just blown away by how good they were.

"Haven't had Scones that good in years. You're a good cook. Cheers, luv." Price smirked and chuckled as he, Soap and Mason all toasted to her cooking, making the girl beam even more as she turned back to the kitchen while humming a small tune. Minna turned to them.

"That was a nice thing you said to her. I haven't seen her that happy in a while." Minna remarked with a smile. Mio and Barkhorn could see that these three were good men, but were still wondering why the Lieutenant averted his eyes when they were up and about. Now was as good a time as any to ask.

"Lieutenant, I've been meaning to ask why you always avert your eyes when you see us walking around." Mio asked.

"Well...As I told you last night, I had daughters that were around your ages, so your state of dress is somewhat awkward for me and it'll take some getting used to." He explained.

"Oh...That pretty much explains it." Shirley remarked.

"My eldest looked somewhat like the Commander. My youngest got my dark hair but her green eyes and shy demeanor...That little Orussian girl Sanya reminds me of her." Mason replied.

"Then it's easy enough to understand, but I'm curious. What was your wife like?" Minna asked.

"I don't really mind telling. I mean, keeping it all bottled up nearly drove me insane. My wife was of Irish descent and I met her when we were 16, in High School. We started dating and after I joined the military we married when we were 18, before I was shipped off for BUDs training in Coronado. Two years later, Jenna was born. A few years after that, Amy came along. I then got out of the military and entered the police force in Los Angeles. Like I said, Jenna inheirited her looks from her mother while Amy got my dark hair. Come to think of it...When she was your age, my wife was almost your spitting image, Commander." He told them as he pulled his wallet out and showed them a few pictures.

The first pictures were of him in Navy Dress Blues just before he got out, but with his 5 year old and one year old daughters and his wife. They progressed The other girls could see the resemblance clear as day and it was a little creepy. Mrs. Mason looked like an older version of Minna with green eyes, along with the eldest girl. The youngest had dark hair, but her shy expression and green eyes reminded them heavily of Sanya. That was most likely why his eyes softened when he saw her.

"So you were a daddy?" Yoshika gasped with a smile.

"Yeah...I was." Mason replied with a sad smile as the Rangers came into the dining hall.

"Mmm...That smells really good." Dunn sniffed the air.

"A home cooked meal...Haven't had one of those since I went on leave to my mom's house in Chicago." Foley remarked as they all took the plates they were offered.

"What's this called?" Ramirez asked. It smelled and looked really good.

"That's a traditional dish from my homeland, Britainnia, called Bangers and Mash. Try it!" She urged eager to see their reactions. She wasn't disappointed in the slightest as they dug into their food, getting a chorus of praise.

"These Scone things...they remind me of the Pan Dulce my grandma used to make after church on Sundays." Ramirez commented, greatly enjoying himself.

Minna and Mio were glad to see the normally downtrodden girl brighten up like this. These men weren't as bad as they could have been, actually having some basic manners and trying to keep their swearing to a minimum.

After a few more minutes, everyone had arrived for breakfast. Perrine was a little hesitant due to how she acted the day before, the talking to she got from both her beloved Major and Commander Minna still ringing in her ears.

_**FLASHBACK...**_

_ It was just after Mio had assigned rooms to the six cosmically misplaced soldiers when she and Minna had Perrine stay back for a few moments._

_ "Perrine...I know that you were only standing up for Sanya, but they had already apologized for it. Besides, Lieutenant Mason explained to you that he didn't blame Sanya or her people in this world, since it was the parallel version of the Orussians that committed these horrible atrocities." Minna explained firmly._

_ "B-but Commander...We don't even know if these...males are even telling the truth! They could be lying!" She replied._

_ "No...I would have been able to see any deceit, but I saw none. Those men were 100% honest with us and saw no gain in holding anything back from the ones who saved one of their number from death." Mio returned, Perrine aghast by the fact that her beloved Major was reprimanding her._

_ "Damn those male savages..." She muttered, blaming things on others like she constantly did with Yoshika, but Minna would have none of that._

_ "Don't blame them for this. You need to have a little more tact, Perrine. You're a good witch, but you need to treat others a little more respect than you have, especially Sergeant Miyafuji. You may have been a part of Gallian aristocracy, but here you are a witch of the 501th and you work with a team. Am I clear on that subject?" Minna stated, her decision final._

_ "Yes, ma'am..." She murmured, still thinking of the heartless things she was thinking and had said._

_ 'Those men had lost a great many things in war...Their loved ones gunned down by their fellow man. I don't know how I would have taken seeing such things...'_ _She thought as she retired to her room for the night._

_**END...**_

She slowly made her way into the dining hall when Lieutenant Mason caught sight of her, but returned his attention to his food and conversation, Corporal Dunn and Private Ramirez doing the same.

_'I think they're still a little upset with what I said last night...But I still need to apologize.'_ She thought as she stepped forward and got their attention again.

"I...I'm...I'm sorry...For what I said last night. I didn't know..." She stammered out, not used to having to apologize for much of anything in her life.

The two Rangers and SWAT officer looked at her to gauge if she was forced to say it, or she did it of her own volition. Ramirez sighed and spoke up.

"It's cool...Not like you could have known how things were like in our world." The young private said.

"It wouldn't be very productive, not to mention mature, of us to stay mad about it. You also came out and apologized of you own free will. Thank you." Mason added, Dunn settling for a thank you before finishing up his meal and asking for seconds.

The tension eased up considerably since they took it so well as they all finished up, and cleaned up when Mio asked for their attention.

"I was told by Lieutenant Mason that he would set up some of his hardware for us at the firing range to try and ask him any questions we may have about them." Major Sakamoto announced to the rest of the witches. Sanya was even given the night off to come out with them, Mio herself volunteering for the job.

"I'm gonna need a hand or two to help me out." Mason requested.

"Hell, I'll go. I wanna see this armory on wheels." Dunn offered.

"I'll go, too. This should prove interesting." Mio offered.

"Alright...Let's head out to the motorpool and get the van." Mason said as the two followed him.

_**BASE FIRING RANGE**_

Minna led the rest of them out to the range while Foley was wondering why he was being so open with these witches, but Soap and Price had a good idea about that. They felt that he was trying to show the witches that they weren't a threat to them, get them to trust them and make their lives that much easier.

"That SWAT Leftenant is a smart Yank, I'll give him that." Price commented.

"Since these girls will trust us a little more, I'm guessing they could help us by magicking us back or something." Soap replied.

"That would be nice...The whole world thinks we're dead, Shepherd's body is rotting in that forest a few miles from here and will never be found, and we have the DSM. There has to be something he didn't want us to see if he was willing to kill us for it." Price stated, Soap agreeing with him.

"Too right, mate. Too right." He answered as they heard a police siren wail, the van having it's Code 4 lights on to tell them he had arrived as he pulled up in the van and backed it in.

"Now...I promised that I'd show you what I had and I'm going to honor it. You didn't _have_ to help us or let us stay, but you did so without any ulterior motives that I can discern." Mason stated as he and Dunn began to set things up on a tarp that they dragged out from under the van.

As they continued, even the Task Force men lent a hand, setting up the various firearms while Price and Mason were chatting about re-fitting his optics and M203. He hopped in back and came out with a toolbox, the two of them heading over to a nearby table to work on it while Price asked Soap to run them through the ropes. Soap looked over at the Rangers.

"Come on, you lot...Let's set these things up." Soap instructed. Foley nodded, since MacTavish was a superior officer and he'd already come to the conclusion that the 141 guys could be trusted.

Over with Price and Mason, they were busy taking the optics and underslung weapon off of his M4A1 and trying to fit them onto the PSD with Shirley and Sakamoto looking on. Shirley, a real gearhead, was interested in the workings of these _Assault Rifles_, seeing as they were full auto but much smaller than the BAR she was used to, but bigger than the Thompson. From what she could see, they fired full sized rifle rounds on full auto, but her interest lay in the mechanism itself, so she paid close attention to the two older men as they worked.

"Hmm...The URS looks like it can be done. Let's slap 'em on and take it for a test drive." Mason stated, Price doing just that.

"Nice. I've always wanted to try one of these. A full sized AR round in an PDW format. That was a work of genius." Price muttering as he finished, checking his grip on his new weapon.

"Feels alright. Kind of light, too." He commented.

"Hey, um...What's that thing under the barrel?" Shirley asked.

"An M203 Grenade Launcher. Fires 40mm Fragmentation Grenades for anti-personnel, or HE for use against light armor." Price rattled off as he grabbed a loaded mag, locked and loaded, and headed off to the firing line to test fire with Mason, who was trying to zero in the sight on his own M6A2 since he noticed it was off.

"That...Sounds like a good idea..." The Liberion witch and tinkerer muttered to herself.

"It does...If we had dual purpose utility weapons such as those, we could stand a much better chance against the Neuroi." Mio agreed as they headed back to the group.

Minna had seen a strange looking weapon that seemed like a sub machine gun and oddly reminded her of an MP40, but she wanted ask and be sure.

"Captain MacTavish? What weapon is this?" She asked.

"The Heckler & Koch MP5. A pretty useful SMG that fires 9mm rounds at 800 round per minute and has 30 rounds in this detachable magazine. It's also got a fire selector switch that lets you choose single fire, three round burst and full auto." Soap answered her as he inserted a magazine, locked and loaded, and set her up on the firing line.

"It sounds like it was made in Karlsland in the future. It even fires the exact same round as my MP40." Minna reasoned as she fired off a set set of bursts, since Soap set it for burst fire. She noted that while there was some kickback to it, it was more due to the high rate of fire and how light the weapon was, nothing like trying to keep her MG42 under control.

Next in line was Lynnette, who had become interested in the Mk 14 and helping her was Dunn, who had used this weapon before.

"Now...This is a sniper rifle called the Mk 14 Mod 0 EBR. It's a pretty good rifle, considering the basic design is twice as old as I am. My grandpa had an original M14 from when he was in the Marines and we used to go out into the woods and hunt in the winter when I stayed at his cabin." Dunn stated as he set her up on the line.

She noted that there was some considerable weight to the weapon, but not as heavy as her Boys Anti-Tank Rifle, and the round was probably lighter, too. As she peered into the scope, it was far easier for her to aquire her target than by just her iron sights. She also noticed the lack of a bolt action and as she fired off a round, hitting the target dead center at 400 meters, the spent round ejected itself!

"Self-loading? This is a useful feature." She commented.

"Yeah. There were versions of the M-14 that could go full auto, but most of those wound up in private collections. That 20 round box mag can go a long way." Dunn replied.

"20 rounds?" She almost exclaimed.

"Yep. 20." He returned as she handed the rifle back to him, Dunn clearing the weapon.

The weapon show went on for a while longer, due to the girls showing them what they used in the field. For the men, it was like an antique weapons exhibit, since most of these firearms were museum pieces in their time, such as the MG42's, the Colt M1919A6, Breda SAFAT, Bren LMG, Type 99-2-2 LMG, and the Browning Automatic Rifle, or BAR. The one common weapon that bridged the gap was the fact that the 141 operators carried Colt .45 Autos, just like Shirley. Price's was a family heirloom, his grandfather getting his from a man named Lt. Charles _"Chuck"_ Walker during WWII. Soap's was a newer model, but essentially the same gun.

"It's like I got invited to the best antique gun show ever. I mean...The only one missing is the Tommy Gun." Dunn commented, his eyes still roving over the vintage weapons. He grew up in Abilene Texas, surrounded by guns of all shapes and sizes with his dad being a gunsmith and his grandfather a Marine. He still enjoyed the classics.

"Tommy...Gun?" Yoshika asked, wondering what that could be.

"That's just what the Thompson Sub Machine Gun was nicknamed. It was also called the Chicago Typewriter and the Chopper by gangsters in the 1920's." Shirley explained. It was a Liberion weapon, so of course she would know about it as well as it's rather infamous monikers and history.

A few others had some serious concerns as to what an officer of the law was doing with such an arsenal in the first place. They only knew police as the sometimes friendly but usually strict local constables, and even then there were only armed with a simple truncheon and maybe, but very rarely, a revolver.

"You say you're an officer of the law? What use would a policeman have for a soldier's arsenal and training?" Perrine asked suspiciously. Mio and Minna looked sternly at her, but he waved them off.

"It's a fair question, so don't get mad at her. You see...In my time, many major cities are not very safe places to be. A good number of those cities are in my home country, my own being one of the worst, Los Angeles. People and politicians have gone as far as to declare all out war on crime and criminals, but the criminals just got more brazen, organized, and armed. Crime rates had gone through the roof, innocent people have been killed daily by thugs and hoods that can barely pass for human beings by demeanor. Just catching them and locking them away for long periods of time had proven useless. Tired of all this and the inaction of the Governer at the time, the people voted him out and voted in a person who decided to borrow a concept from another city, Project T-Zero, or Zero Tolerance. For this, the mayor of Los Angeles sent out a call to action for anyone with military experience, combat veterans preferred. I knew the Ramirez family for a long time, and it was Private Ramirez's father that told me about the mayor's literal call to arms. It was the reason why I left the Navy and returned home. He told the mayor about my years with the SEALs and they sped me through the basics of police work, something I found they did for several others like me, and slapped us into a pair of SWAT teams, which doubled as T-Zero Teams." The SWAT leader answered.

"Reminds me of the Favela in Rio de Janeiro...A zoo were the animals are in charge and law and order don't exist." Soap grimaced.

"You...can't be serious..." Lynnette gasped, sounding shocked and aghast by this grim future.

"They're right. I lived in Chicago and a lot of areas in that city are little better than the warzones we fought in. A program like that would have helped a great deal." Foley added, his voice and face both grim, just making the witches fear for the future even more.

"You said that there were others like you?" Price asked.

"Yeah...There were ex-Army Rangers, another SEAL, a few Recon Marines, one guy from Delta and one Green Beret, Captain Barret. Myself and Barret were the two most experienced in combat, so we were in charge of the new team of street sweepers. Things were pretty rocky at first, the media and liberal groups calling us a death squad. After the first two years though, we managed to lower the crime rate by 35% with no collateral damage, a huge improvement. The criminals we did capture alive were too scared to return to a life of crime or go back to their gangs." Mason explained.

"So...It would seem that this idea was working like a charm." Mio surmised, herself being one of those who lived by the _"By any means necessary" _school of thought.

"It was working, but we still had our opponents in the local and federal governments, media and other places. They always swore the same thing, that we were little better than a legalized death squad. The mayor and police chief fired back with our track record and other cops and their families saying they were thankful we were there, otherwise some family would be getting a call or the Captain knocking at the door, telling them that their parent or spouse died in the line of duty." Mason answered her.

The witches could all attest to something like that. Chief Marshal Dowding set up the 501st and defended them from the naysayers that said they would fail. The witches were seen as guardian angels by many on the front lines, but they still had many more who reviled them and wanted them gone. Many of these were in the various governments that made up their alliance, some in positions to do some real damage if given the chance, Chief Marshal Maloney being just one of many. The homeland of every witch had their own hardliners causing problems.

_'That reminds me...I still need to report this to Command. I can only hope they don't try anything rash with these men. I can see that backfiring in the worst way and we need to send them home. Maybe Lieutenant Hartmann's sister Ursula can help...I should contact her, too.'_ Minna thought as the conversation went on.

"Sounds like something my grandpa said..._"If it ain't broke, don't fix it."_." Shirley cracked with a grin to lighten the mood, which worked wonderfully. Barkhorn had her own questions.

"What were your normal operational parameters?" Trudy asked.

"Our main mission was to wipe out violent criminals by any means necessary while doing everything in our power to save innocent lives, which was a hell of a job. Some of them were just as well armed and organised as professional armies, especially those drug cartels that constantly tried to move in on new neighborhoods. We also responded to all high risk incidents normal police weren't equipped or trained to handle. We managed to whittle the violent crime rate down to 34% as compared to what it was before we existed. Things went on this way until the Russian invasion and you already know that story." Mason finished.

"Oh...Well...I can only hope that things won't get as bad in our future." Perrine commented, trying to stay calm.

"For your sakes...I hope not. People like us shouldn't be necessary at all in Law Enforcement. It's almost like a sign of the end of days..." Mason muttered.

As they began to put things away and get on with their day, some of them noticed that Ramirez was lagging behind. His usual shades and shemah were off and it looked like something was really bothering him. Foley noticed first and walked over.

"You okay, Private?" He asked in a hushed tone.

"Yeah...I just have a lot on my mind right now." Ramirez replied, not convincing Foley in the slightest, but he knew that the young man was usually tight lipped.

"...Okay. We're going to do some SOCP training before dinner, so make sure you show up, hooah?" Foley replied as he turned to help with the breakdown.

Mio and Sanya saw that he was troubled by something and it had started during the conversation about his home city. They made their way over to him to speak with him, Eila trying to convince Sanya to let Mio handle it, but she shook her head.

"He needs help...I want to help him." The quiet Orussian girl spoke as her friend sighed.

"Fine..." Eila grunted as she let go and followed.

"There is something wrong. I can tell. You want to talk about it, Private?" Mio asked, not accepting no for an answer. Sanya's pleading gaze behind her only added weight to the request, so he slumped in defeat.

"Fine..." He sighed in defeat, slumping down onto a bench as he explained what was wrong.

Somehow, he just felt more comfortable explaining this to them than his Sargeant, especially since the Major's no-nonsense bearing reminded him of his mother to a small degree. He was a bit wary of Sanya, mainly due to the fact that she is from this world's version of Russia. He knew that it was stupid to be fearful of such a small girl who had nothing to do with his family's outright murder, but the hesitation was still there. Gritting his teeth, he took the plunge.

"It's just hard to take...I was always wondering how my folks were doing during the invasion, but I thought that bastard Shepherd evacuated all the civilians. He kept them there, then he left them to die. Now, I find out that my folks are all dead! Murdered by those bastard Russians! I should have been there..." Ramirez barked out, barely able to hold himself back from lashing out.

Mio understood why he felt this way. She could see some similarities to Barkhorn this young man. Both were very angry that their homelands had been invaded and their families killed, except Barlhorn has her sister still, yet Ramirez's whole family is now gone, he himself the only survivor. Sanya was shaking, but she wasn't afraid of him. No...She was shuddering because she was trying to imagine her people from this parallel world committing such horrible crimes. Eila misunderstood, due to her protectiveness and lashed out.

"Quit scaring her!" She barked out. Mio was about to stop her, but Sanya acted first by placing a calming hand on her shoulder as she explained. Once she did, the Suomus witch wilted in shame.

"Sorry..." She apologized as Sanya stepped up to the American Private, who was sitting down with his face in his hands, and gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry...For what they did to you, your family...Your people..." Sanya whispered into his ear, making the young man tense and freeze.

He slowly looked the quiet girl in the eyes, trying to see any dishonesty in her, but found none. She was truly sorry for it, even though her people here in this world had nothing to do with what happened.

"S'okay...I'm alright." He mumbled as he wiped his face with his gloved hands.

Satisfied with this, Mio addressed him warmly.

"Come. It's time for lunch and after you train with your Sargeant, how would you like to train with me? If anything else, it can help you find peace." Mio offered.

Ramirez wondered for a moment how this young woman the same age as himself seemed so much more mature. Although, he had to admit that learning that Kendo stuff that she trained in sounded interesting. He shook himself out of his surprize and answered her.

"Y-yeah...I'd like that." The young american answered as he stood up, looking down at Sanya.

"Hey, um...Thanks...For actually caring. It felt nice, y'know?" Ramirez thanked the small girl awkwardly.

"You're welcome." She replied quietly as she and Eila left for the mess hall, Mio and Ramirez behind them.

_**COMMUNICATIONS ROOM**_

Minna had dropped by the Comms room to check the schedule for any Neuroi attacks when the base radio operator, a young non-witch who ran the Comms, stopped her before she could leave.

"Commander...Flight Officer Ursula Hartmann reported yesterday evening about three unknown objects that crashed into the area surrounding the base. I believe that this was how our visitors got here." The young woman, Master Sergeant Madeline LaPonte, hypothesized.

"Hmm...You may be right. Can she be raised?" Minna asked.

"I tried a few hours ago, ma'am. Last I heard, she was on a plane bound for this base. She should be here soon, barring an unforeseen circumstances." Madeline replied, but that _unforeseen_ circumstance she mentioned just happened.

"Ma'am! RADAR just picked up Neuroi activity 50 miles out from the base!" The male RADAR tech cried out, watching for more information.

"What?! Who called it in?!" Minna demanded.

"The 78th Reserve Witches CO Lt. Hennessy just did! They were escorting Flight Officer Hartmann when they were attacked and the transport carrying her was shotdown. She is injured, but alive. The pilot and Co-Pilot were killed on impact and the 78th have already engaged the enemy!" Madeline answered.

"What are their numbers?" Minna asked the tech.

"Let's see...Three fighter Neuroi, three Tank Neuroi and one Heavy Bomber. Heading suggests they were on their way here." He replied.

"I see...Hit the alarm, Scramble all Witches!" Minna ordered as she hauled ass out of there to get ready for combat.

_**HANGER BAY AND MOTORPOOL**_

The entire base was buzzing with activity once the alarm went off, personnel running every which way to get to their battlestations. The Witches themselves were currently gathering in the Hanger and Motorpool, arming up and readying themselves for combat. The men heard the call to scramble and all rushed to the Hanger on instinct. Mason and the 141 arrived first and were gearing up, drawing attention.

"What are you doing here?" Barkhorn asked a little more harshly than she intended.

"We heard the siren and saw you girls running here. We just came to see if we could help." Price stated.

"What could you possibly do against the Neuroi besides get yourselves killed?!" Perrine exclaimed, not really seeing the logic behind their seemingly suicidal actions.

"Nothing's impossible for the 141, luv. The yank here is on par with us, so he's included with us." Price answered, Minna relenting.

"They're willing to help us, so who are we to turn down the skills these men can offer. Besides, there is a witch down and they can go in and rescue her while we only have to worry about fighting the Neuroi. Some of the weaponry they have is clearly more powerful than ours and more advanced, so if they run into a Walker Neuroi they can fend for themselves." Minna reasoned. The rest of the witches weren't as convinced, but if Minna had faith in them, they could too. Mio sighed to herself as she called out to them.

"You have radio's right? Our Frequency is 101.6." The Major informed them as the Witches sped off into combat.

"Right. Let's load up in one of those lorries and head out." Price ordered. As they loaded some ordinance into a 6x6 truck, Mason was curious.

"Price...Why include me with the 141?" He asked.

"Your experience and background make you more than adequately qualified. As far as I'm concerned, you've earned it Lieutenant. Welcome to the 141." The old veteran replied honestly, Soap nodding in agreement. Mason just nodded as they finished loading an explosion resistant case of RPG rockets into the truck and were about to head out when the three Rangers barreled around the corner.

"Great minds think alike, eh?" Dunn joked.

"You helpin' too, Yanks?" Soap asked in return.

"Might as well. If those things make it here, we're screwed either way. Besides, it'd be a nice way to repay them for letting us shack up here." Foley explained calmly, making Price smirk.

"Good answer, yank. Hop in." Price answered him, the three Rangers loading up.

"Alright, Soap...Floor it. We'll have a hell of a time keeping up with those girls in the first place." Price ordered, the truck roaring out of the Motorpool and out in the direction the Witches flew off in, following them into combat.

_**BATTLEFIELD**_

The truck had been bumping along the roads, following the route the witches had taken thanks to Price spotting them with his binoculars and helping them find them when a familiar voice buzzed over their comms.

_**"This is Commander Wilcke of the 501st. Lieutenant Hennessey, what is your status?"**_ Commander Minna requested over the comms.

_**"Lieutenant Marissa Hennesey of the 78th Reserve Witches here, ma'am! We are currently engaged with the air types, but the Walkers are constantly taking pot shots at us and keeping us from reaching Lieutenant Hartmann! The few Land Witches we have with us are being overwhelmed!"**_ The 78th CO reported.

_**"Ursula?! She was shot down?!"**_ Erica cried over the radio, distraught that he sister was down and hurt out there

_**"Don't worry, Erica. We have a special Search and Rescue team on their way right now. They can get her out of there." **_Minna replied as she called them.

_**"141 and Hunter 2-1...Can you hear me?" **_ She called them.

_**"We're here, Commander. How can we help out?"**_ Price answered.

_**"Captain Price...Your orders are to find Lieutenant Ursula Hartmann and get her to safety, as well as rescuing any downed witches called out. You will be referred to as a Search and Rescue Team. Understood?"**_ She ordered them.

_** "Copy that. SAR team en route now."**_ Captain Price rogered up as did the rest of them.

_**"Good. We've needed a team like this, but our brass always refused to spare resources for it. These men actually volunteered for this?"**_ Lieutenant Hennessey asked, stunned that they were getting such help. These men also sounded very brave, willing to enter that shit storm to pull downed witches out of harms way.

_**"Yes. I can also vouch for their skill under fire and trustworthiness. They can do this." **_ Minna vouched as they barreled into the combat zone.

The Witches split up into their groups and attacked the Neuroi with rehearsed presicion as the newly christened SAR team approached the battle area. In a few moments, they caught sight of some of the strangest things they'd seen in their lives.

"What the hell is that?" Soap wondered aloud.

"I reckon it's one of those Neuroi the girls told us about. Those things are freaking huge!" Dunn exclaimed.

"Keep an eye out of trouble, you lot! We can't get caught with our thumbs up our arses!" Price yelled as a Neuroi flying overhead took a potshot at them.

"Holy hell! Evading!" Soap yelled out, narrowly dodging the laser blast.

"These things are packing freaking lasers?!" Ramirez exclaimed.

_**"That's correct, Private. Be careful out there. One hit and you won't even leave a corpse behind." **_Major Sakamoto warned as he and her wingmate broke off and engaged the Neuroi that shot at them.

"Christ...What the hell did we just agree to?" Dunn muttered as they continued on.

They continued on for a few more moments until they ran into one of the Walker Neuroi, Soap reacting quickly and steering the truck behind a building before it noticed them.

"C'mon, lads. Two teams...Soap and Dunn with me. Mason, take Foley and Ramirez. Grab RPG's and a couple of rockets and stay out of sight. We'll ambush that bastard before it even knows we're here." Price ordered as they quickly assembled their gear and deployed as planned.

The Neuroi was sitting idle, sandwiched between two three story buildings. They guessed that it was hiding among the buildings and waiting for an unwary witch to pass by and shoot her down. The plan was for each three man team to infiltrate a building on each side, both of them carrying ordinance in case lead wasn't enough. They slowly and quietly moved into position, taking aim at the large...Thing.

_**"Steady...Wait for my signal..."**_ Price muttered over their comms as Dunn took aim with an RPG-7, Team 2 doing the same with their carbines.

_**"Drop that Wanker!"**_ Price roared as Team 2 rained high caliber fire down on the body of the Neuroi.

The large Neuroi groaned under the concentrated fire, having been told by the witches the other night that the sweet spot on the Neuroi was usually located toward the center mass. The combined fire from the three men all concentrated on a general area was having some effect. At first, it appeared to be doing nothing, but the full auto, high caliber gunfire began to chip away at the outer armor-like hide of the Neuroi. Feeling they had done enough damage, Mason called up Price.

_**"Captain...Drop that bastard with the rockets!" **_He called in.

"Corporal...Take that bloody thing out!" Price yelled over the gunfire.

"Got it, Cap'n!" Dunn replied, taking aim with the RPG-7 and firing the Anti-Armor rocket.

The rocket hit dead center, it's first stage charge shredding the outer armor layer and the second punching a hole clean through the middle, right where the core used to be before it seemed to shatter like glass. The men looked on at their accomplishment and cheered.

"Nice shot, Corporal." Price stated.

"HOOAH! Take that, E.T wanna-be bastard!" Dunn whooped as a low flying witch witnessed the fight.

_**"Good kill! Nice job, comrades!"**_ The young platinum blond girl praised them in a distinctly Russian accent as she flew on, but another Walker heard the commotion and lumbered it's way over to them, it's laser already charging.

"Holy shit...Another one." Mason pointed out as he tried to warn the young witch.

_**"Look out! Hostile at your 6!"**_ Mason yelled into the comms, but it was too late.

The Neuroi had already charged up and shot at her, taking off her weapon arm at the elbow before she could open fire or raise her shield, and the second one destroying her left Striker, the young girl plowing into the street.

"Shit! She's down!" Mason bellowed as he shimmied his way down a drain pipe swiftly and onto the street. The SWAT officer quickly slid in, picked the crying girl up bridal style and ran for their lives for cover, barely evading another laser blast.

"Gah...Fuck! Shit!" Mason cursed, the shockwave form the blast nearly knocking him off his feet.

Price was at first going to order him to stay behind cover, but he knew that they needed to rescue the downed witch, their new job.

"Cover his arse! Take it down!" Price ordered as every gun around began raining hell on the Walker, Ramirez moving to get a better shot from the rooftops. As soon as he had a clear shot, he fired his SMAW and blew the offending alien away.

_**"Got 'im, Cap'n! Scratch another hostile!"**_ Ramirez announced into his comms.

_**"Good shot, Private."**_ Price replied.

_**"Two kills?! Good work, SAR team! Secure that injured witch and keep pressing ahead."**_ Minna ordered. These men were performing beyond her expectations. She only wished that she was allowed to decorate them for their bravery under fire.

Spotting no more hostiles in the area, Price had the teams re-converge and move back to the truck. Dunn made his way over to the injured Air Infantry witch and began to assess the damage.

"Oh shit...Good thing that laser cauterised the wound already. Lemme give her something to numb the pain." Dunn said, reaching into his Medic Bag and pulled out a Morphine Syrette.

He attempted to administer the pain killer, but she began to thrash wildly at the sight of the needle, crying out fearfully in Russian. Mason sighed and pulled on more of the training he recieved in the SEALs, including the Russian that he was taught. It was a little rusty, but he managed.

"Zdesʹ oâgnitesʹ, vy kak raz primite emu legkomu promežutok vremeni." He told the scared girl to calm her enough for Dunn to treat her. His Russian was a little rough, but she understood him.

After a few more moments, he managed to coax her out of her frenzy. Once she calmed down, Dunn quickly and painlessly administered the Morphine, the painkiller doing it's job almost instantly. The young girl felt her pain die down to a dull throbbing sensation where the rest of her arm used to be. Carefully, the two men load her into the truck where he could work in her further as a Land Infantry witch rolled up. Looking at her, she was a blond girl with green eyes. Her Strikers unit and weapon both looked like they were ripped right off of a M4 Sherman, even the Howitzer Cannon she toted.

"Alena! Oh god...Is she alright?!" The young woman nearly shrieked.

"Well...That thing blew off her arm and..." Dunn began to say, but the young witch cut him off.

"I said is she alright?!" The witch bellowed at him angrily.

"Stay outta the way and let me finish!" Dunn fired back as he continued to work on her.

"I expect a better answer next time, Corporal." She seethed at the Ranger Medic, but the rest of the team was less than pleased by her attitude. From the looks of things, only three of them wore rank insignias, so she assumed she was the highest ranking one there.

"Who's in charge here?" She demanded, but Soap took over.

"Who the bloody hell are you, missy?" The Scotsman demanded right back, not at all intimidated.

"Master Sergeant Bernice Marlow. What rank are you?" She demanded again, but Price was in a less than festive mood right now.

"You are addressing two Captains and a Lieutenant, young lady." He sternly informed her. The young witch looked more closely at their uniforms, now seeing their insignias. Now, she began to sweat.

"Look...Let's just do our jobs and get out of here alive, huh?" Mason cut in, more to the young woman, who wilted.

"Bernice...These men saved my life out there and were very kind to me. They told me that their mission is to rescue any downed witches they can find and get them to safety." Alena informed her fretting comrade. She looked to the rest of the men, who nodded to affirm her claim.

"Our primary objective is to reach and rescue one Lieutenant Ursula Hartmann. If you could come with us and lend some firepower, this will get done much quicker. Savvy?" Price laid out before her. She nodded, the choice only too clear.

"Yes, sir. I'll follow you and lend fire support." She saluted, the old man returning it as they all got into the truck and moving further along.

Bernice offered to take point due to her ability to keep up with the truck with her strikers while Mason drove. With Bernice leading the way to the crash site, they made much better time than before, reaching the plane wreck inside of five minutes and spotting the injured girl, who was pinned under a wing. Ramirez, Soap and Foley jumped from the truck and quickly lifted the wing off of her while Ramirez picked her up and carried her back to Dunn, who began scanning her for injuries while the others scanned the area for more hostiles. His face grew more grim by the second as he continued to look for and find more injuries.

"Damn...She's got a broken leg and wrist, but that's not the worst of it." Dunn breathed, his breath shuddering.

"What else is there?" Price asked.

"She got two broken ribs and one of her lungs is punctured...I...I can't help her, sir." He replied, his voice shaking. Price jumped on the Comms immeadiately.

_**"This is SAR team...We have found the Lieutenant. I repeat...Lieutenant Hartmann has been found and secured, but she needs immediate medical treatment! Her wound are severe and we can't help her!" **_Price called out using coordinates on an area map in the truck, hoping that Miyafuji girl was listening and nearby. The reply he got back was what he was hoping for.

_**"This is Major Sakamoto. Miyafuji and myself are very close by and coming to you. The enemy is in full retreat and I hear that you managed to take down two walkers on your own. Good job out there."**_ The Fuso Major replied the pair swooping in and landing.

Yoshika immediately disengaged her strikers and ran over to the badly injured witch, whose breathing was becoming more labored and harsh. Acting quickly and on Dunn's guidance, she focused her Healing on the most severe and life threatening injury, her punctured lung. The healing magic quickly did it's job, color returning to the young witch's cheeks and her breathing returning to normal.

"Damn good work, lass, but there's still one more in the back of the truck." Price directed her efforts to the Orussian witch in the truck while he turned to the Major.

"Ma'am...Mind if we borrow Miyafuji for a bit? We'll take her back to base with us." Price requested.

"Very well, Captain. Take good care of her and the others." Mio called out over the roar of her strikers, bolting off for the base at a rapid clip.

_**"SAR Team...This is Lieutenant Hennessey, C.O of the 78th Reserve Witches. I understand that you rescued one of my girls and Officer Hartmann. Thank you. We'll see you at the base. God Speed."**_ The young C.O stated over her comms as they continued on their way towards the base and relative safety.

"So...Any thoughts on our first encounter?" Foley asked, making conversation and getting their take on this.

"That was bloody wierd...Those damn things are tough to kill. If we didn't have those Anti-Armor RPG's...Forget it. Thinkin' 'bout it don't sit well." Soap replied.

"I know, man...As if those lasers they pack weren't bad enough. I went through two full mags on that first one." Ramirez chimed in.

"At least we know that our RPG's can kill these bloody things. It helps that we can hide in buildings and bushwhack 'em...Flying around up there would make you stand out like bollocks on a bulldog." Price added.

"You guys did really well for not being witches or having magic!" Yoshika commented.

"I must agree...You men are certainly a cut above the rest of the infantrymen that I have ever seen. I owe you all my life and I'd like to repay the debt someday." Ursula added, racking her mind for a way to do it. The lessened pain in her body made thinking much easier.

_'Hmm...It seems as thought when I experimented with that anomaly, I unintentionally created a bridge to their reality, plucking them from their world to ours. Maybe...I can reverse it somehow.'_ The young Karlsland witch and scientist thought on how to repay the men who saved her life as they made their way back to the base.

_ A/N : Second chapter down. I know...At first, it was like a weapons exhibition, but that was needed. You can't just expect the witches to just go and trust them when so many in their own ranks would love to see them fail. They needed a reason to trust them, first. This was accomplished by showing them their equipment and training with them, getting to know them on a personal level. Now, they have a good amount of trust from the C.O and X.O of the 501st, as well as the Reserve Witches for saving two of their own._

_ I selected the PG-7VR rockets for their armor killing abilities. I figured that the Dual Stage warheads would be more than enough to kill a Neuroi and since Mason and his fellow officers had been fighting a Guerilla-Style War against the Russians that occupied L.A, he and his compatriots had to have appropriated some to kill Russian armor with an added sense of irony. _


	3. Out of the Frying Pan

_Here you are...The next chapter. Read and enjoy to your hearts content!_

_**501st JFW BASE**_

The truck carrying the newly christened SAR Team rumbled along the roads that led back to the base, Lt. Mason at the wheel while Dunn and Yoshika continued treatment on the downed Orussian witch with the rest kept a sharp eye out for any more hostiles. Alena Romanov, a Junior Sargeant, was currently getting her newly amputated arm worked on and the nerve endings fixed so she wouldn't have to live her life with phantom pains as a constant reminder. Yoshika was very squeamish and nervous at first, but Foley called her over and talked with her.

"You been in many battles, kid?" The battle hardened Ranger asked.

"Um...A few..." She replied nervously.

"Look...War is never a pretty sight, but you have a job that only you can do. You can save lives with your abilities only if you stay calm. It's alright to be afraid, it's natural. But don't let it rule you." The much older and more experienced Sargeant advised, making the young Fuso witch feel much more confident. She then took to healing Alena to the point where she would have no side effects.

"You really helped her gain some confidence with that speech." Ursula appraised.

"Just doing what needed to be done, ma'am." Foley replied simply with a nod as he sat back, stretched his back out and shut his eyes for a few moments of rest.

_'These men...I can only wish that the men in the Karlsland military were more like them...Damn that General Strasse...'_ Ursula thought as they made their way through the front gates of the base.

The man she cursed was none other than Brigadier General Wilhelm Strasse, head of Karlsland Special Projects Division. Despite his title, he carried tremendous clout within the military and detested witches. He saw them as an affront to science and freaks of nature, making it his personal mission in life to drum them all out of the military and back where he felt little girls belonged, in the kitchen and bearing a witch was assigned under him, he would ride and torment her until she would quit on the spot, but there were nasty rumors going around that he personally abducted one and performed a gruesome series of inhumane tests on her. In the end, he threw her to his men to have fun with until she finally gave up and committed suicide. However, due to his influence, he managed to sweep the entire incident under the rug, escaping any punishment. This alone made him #1 in the witches shit list, with a few others just under him. They weren't quite as heinous, but they were still devious and wanted them gone.

On the other hand, they did have a few in the upper echelons that fully supported them, many were Liberion, Fuso, Orussian, and a smattering of other countries. Two of their biggest defenders were Lieutenant General George S. Patton of the Liberion Army, and Lord Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding. These two highly decorated and respected commanders saw the potential the Witches possessed and fought an increasing difficult battle to keep them in the war. Another was the late General Vasily Kuznetsov, who died in a Neuroi attack just last year, as well as his successor, Leonid Brezhnev.

As soon as they made it into the motorpool to park their ride and were climbing out, cheers erupted all around them as the witches from both units rushed the six men as they were unloading the injured witches. Erica rushed up to her twin sister tearfully.

"I thought I lost you..." Erica wept into her sister's chest.

"I'm alright, Erica...You always were the more emotional one..." Ursula joked as she stroked her twin's hair. Erica then stood up and saluted the six who delivered her from the jaws of death.

"I don't know if I can ever repay you...But I'll try." Lt. Hartmann vowed.

"We only pulled her out. That Miyafuji girl healed her up." Dunn admitted.

"But if you guys hadn't found her and gotten her out, she would have died before we found her ourselves. The six of you performed above and beyond my expectations, going above and beyond the call of duty." Minna replied.

"Yes...We owe you men a debt of gratitude for actually volunteering for such a hazardous duty, one that no other men would be willing to perform. Drinks are on me, boys." Lt. Hennesey smirked, meaning every word of it since she had a case of fine cognac that coincidentally shared her name.

"Now that's a reward worth having..." Soap chuckled, eager for a good, stiff drink.

"Now...Just don't get wild. You remember how you got your call sign, right?" Price smirked, making the mohawked commando pale and deflate.

"This I HAVE to hear..." Shirley commented slyly.

"Well...Maybe later. Right now, we have to stow our gear and rest for a bit, maybe take a shower or the like." Price rattled off.

"Well...There's an indoor bath in the West Wing that we don't use, so you are more than welcome to it." Minna informed them.

"A bath tub, eh? Reckon we can relax for a bit." Soap murmured.

"Oh no...Not an ordinary bathtub...It's a full scale bath that can accommodate at least two dozen people." Mio corrected with a smile.

"Bloody hell...THAT big?" Soap nearly yelled as it was explained to them, the idea sounding better and better by the minute.

"What the hell are we waiting for? Let's go chill for a while!" Ramirez whooped as he slung his rifle and took off towards the bath, Mio showing him the way.

"Heh...When in Rome, eh Soap?" Price chuckled as they followed the young private, the other two Rangers following suit, but he noticed that Mason was remaining behind.

"What's wrong, Mason?" Price asked.

"I'm...Just gonna go take her to the infirmary and make sure she's alright. I'll join you guys later. A good soak sounds really nice right now." Mason answered. Price nodded and left him to his business. Minna noticed him following the doctors, carrying the young Orussian witch to the infirmary.

_'He was a family man and it shows...But he's also a good soldier. Once again...I am glad that I decided to trust them. They really came through for us.'_ She thought as she left to go debrief the other witches and take a bath herself.

_**BRIEFING ROOM**_

After a few minutes, all of the necessary personnel have gathered in the briefing room, including the witches of the 78th, to further discuss what had happened during the battle today and their opinions on their newfound allies. The two C.O's stood side by side at the podium and faced their respective subordinates. They allowed them to settle in and get comfortable before starting the meeting.

"Now...we'll begin the debriefing. I would like to hear any and all input you may have on this battle. Anyone?" Minna asked, scanning the room for anyone with questions. A young 78th Ground Witch raised her hand.

"SSGT Earle?" Lt. Hennessey asked a young Liberion woman, Marine Staff Sargeant Diana Earle, around 17 years old, with short red hair and blue eyes, who stood up.

"Just who WERE those guys? They took out 2 Walker Neuroi on their own in only a few minutes!" She exclaimed.

"To answer that, we have a verbal report from Lt. Ursula Hartmann, who is on the intercom from the infirmary where she is recovering from her wounds. Ursula?" Minna prompted.

_**"Yes, thank you, Commander. Now, in regards to the six men, I fear that I may be responsible for bringing them here."**_ She informed them.

"Responsible for that? How sis?" Erica asked her twin.

_**"Well...I was out investigating a strange magical anamoly and it felt safe enough to experiment with it. I injected some of my own magical power into the anamoly, but it reacted violently. As I stated in my radio transmission, those three balls of light erupted from the anamoly and sped off toward the base. I'm certain that is how those men were plucked from their reality and dumped into ours."**_ Ursula explained.

"Couple that with their accounts of what occured just moments before they were brought here, I'd say that you possibly saved their lives. Lt. Mason was about to be blown to Kingdom come, as were the three Rangers, and Captain MacTavish would have bled to death." Major Sakamoto added to that. All of the puzzle pieces pertaining to how they got there were now in place.

"The real challenge now will be devising a way to send these men back home. I can imagine the Task Force men will want to continue their hunt for this Makarov terrorist and clear their names, while the Rangers and Lt. Mason will want to rejoin their comrades in re-taking their homeland." Minna theorized.

"That's only fair. I will admit that they did extremely well today and losing soldiers of their caliber, character, bravery would be regrettable. However, we must remember that they were never meant to be here." Barkhorn reminded them.

"That...wasn't really the best way to put it, Trudy. If it weren't for them, my sister would be dead right now and so would that 78th witch who got shot down. As long as they're here and they're willing to help us, we should feel thankful. Almost every man in every military that doesn't hate us won't risk themselves for us like that, either." Erica corrected her in a subdued voice that frankly, wasn't like her. Trudy realised what she had said and looked down.

"I'm sorry, Erica. That was pretty tactless of me. I know that most, if not all men of our militaries would never risk their lives for ours, expecting us to die for them. We really should feel grateful for our new guardian angels on the ground." Barkhorn apologized.

"S'okay, Trudy. I know you didn't really mean it." Erica replied, brightening up a bit as she beamed at her best friend in the world as she turned to the speaker.

"Hey sis...You think you can get these guys home?" Erica asked.

_**"...I don't know, but once I get back to my lab, I can start looking into a solution."**_ Ursula replied as the meeting dragged on.

Finally, after another hour had passed, the girls had finished with their debriefing and all took off for the baths for a good long soak after such a stressful day. Along the way, they saw the six men coming back from their bath, looking much more relaxed than they were before.

"I could get used to that..." Foley remarked.

"Amen to that sarge." Dunn added.

"That was pretty damn good...All that's left to cap this day off is a nice supper, a few good tugs of that Cognac Lt. Hennesey promised and hit the sack." Price said aloud, everyone agreeing with him.

"Oh...Hello gentlemen. How did you enjoy the bath?" Minna asked.

"That was almost as good as that healing magic the Miyafuji girl worked on us." Price replied, Yoshika going slightly red from the praise.

"These baths are one of the best things for you after a hard day's work." Mio agreed with them, nodding sagely.

"No arguments here..." Ramirez sighed.

"I almost fell asleep in there..." Soap yawned.

"I do that all the time." Shirley chuckled.

"So...You guys feel better now?" Francesca asked them.

"That we do, missy. Thanks for lettin' us use it." Soap thanked them.

"Shucks...That's alright, big guy! Just play with me later and we'll call it even!" The small Romangan girl beamed at the towering Scot. He chuckled lightly and patted her head.

"We'll see, a'right?" He replied as they all walked off to their rooms to rest up a little more and the girls went along their way to wash up themselves.

_**BACK AT THE ANAMOLY...**_

The magical anamoly was simply vibrating as it had been since it first appeared, sitting idle until Lt. Hartmann experimented with it. First, it bridged a dimensional gap and ripped six men from their world and time. They all thought that this was the end of the strange occurences, but they were wrong. The magical tear in Space/Time began to react one more time as it violently shook the ground and spat out one final ball of light before dying out. This ball of light suddenly vanished into thin air...

_**MEANWHILE...2016**_

_**IL-96-300PU ILLYUSHIN TRANSPORT PLANE BOUND FOR HAMBURG, GERMANY...**_

In the Russian Federation's version of Air Force One, Russian Federation's president Boris Vorchevsky was just finishing up some last minute paperwork as the commander of his personal guard detail, Cmdr. Leonid Pudovkin came in with two of his men, Sargeants Anton Fedorov and Andrei Harkov, who had been escorting his daughter Alena around the plane. The young woman walked up to her father.

"Vasiliy is waiting for you in the meeting room, father." She told him.

"I know. He is waiting for an answer from me." He replied. He then noticed her unease.

"I do not like him father...His ideas are too similar to the old Soviet way of thinking...It scares me." She connfided in him.

"I know...But he is good at his job and that is why I tolerate him." The president comforted his daughter.

"I will see you at supper, my dear." He told her as he kissed her cheek and allowed her to be led away by another member of the guard detail while he himself entered into the meeting.

Inside the secure room, there were his closest advisors and a secretary, all waiting for him to get the meeting started. Vasiliy cleared his throat to garner some attention while the guards took their positions around the room and by the doors.\

"I know what you have been waiting for...Do we choose war or peace? Life or death? For the sake of our children and all those caught up in this madness, I choose to seek peace with the West." He announced.

This was a decision that had been carefully weighed and thought out. The Americans had proven themselves more than a match for their forces. Add to that the military forces of the allied NATO powers, he had no choice but to seek peace. He knew that the hardliners within the Politburo would never deign to lay down their arms, he would have to try, starting with those in this room.

_'I can only hope that Makarov will not interfere...'_ He hoped, but Murphy's Law had already sprung into motion as they heard gunfire coming from the cockpit.

"That's gunfire..." Commander Pudovkin murmured.

_**"Hijackers are taking the plane! Cockpit breached!"**_ Team 3 reported frantically, wild gunfire heard in the background. Harkov and the other FSO agents drew their FN Five-Seven pistols and flicked off the safety.

"Dammit Team 3, report!" He tried again, but the gunfire was getting closer. He decided to get the men ready to repel the attackers.

"Everyone get down! All agents, protect the President! Code Red! I repeat..." He barked to his men, but the door blew in, cutting him off and knocking him off of his feet. While they were stunned, armed men rushing inside and began to open fire on everyone within, killing one guard and two of the meeting attendees before Harkov and Pudovkin managed to fight back and take them out, taking their AK-74u's. He looked back at what remained of the men behind him.

"We have to get the President ot the Safe Room! Let's go!" He ordered as Harkov and Fedorov locked and loaded, following his lead with the President following close behind. As they moved down a passageway, the plane banked heavily to port as another team reported in.

_**"This is Team 2, meeting heavy resistance from the cockpit!"**_ They informed their commander, the small squad moving to the stairs where more FSO agents were holding fast. The plane then jerked violently.

_**"We've stalled out! Losing altitude!"**_ The pilot exclaimed as everyone was bounced around in zero-G. A few terrorists floated up from the stairway, but the FSO agents quickly gunned them down. Suddenly, the pilot regained control of the aircraft and gravity kicked again. A terrorist survived the onslaught, but not for much longer since Pudovkin got to his feet quickly and finished him off, issuing more orders to the remaining teams.

"Team 2, secure that cockpit!" He ordered as he recieved more incoming radio traffic from Team 3.

_**"They have taken the daughter! Need backup!"**_ Another team reported.

"Damn...Team 3. This is Cmdr. Pudovkin. Backup is on it's way!" He replied as they got moving again.

Harkov, Fedorov, and Pudovkin continued to push forward, breaking through to the cargo hold where Alena was being held captive. After a small firefight, Harkov managed to pick off the terrorist holding a gun to her head and freed her, reuniting her with her father. After that, Pudovkin set himself and his men to the task of re-taking the plane.

"Harkov, Fedorov...Move up! We have to re-secure the cockpit! Nevski, Belov...Take the President and his daughter to the Safe Room." He ordered as the three FSO agents began to hunt down the remaining terrorists.

_**"Attempting emergency landing!"**_ The pilot cautioned as the plane bucked even more wildly than before.

Moving into the passenger's quarters, Fedorov and Harkov began to exchange fire with more hijackers that had come from the back of the plane. Harkov managed to pick off two more while Fedorov wrestled down one that got too close and gutted him with his combat knife. The deadly firefight went on for another few moments until the pilot came over the IC system again.

_**"Brace for impact!"**_ He screamed as the plane landed on it's belly, the rear half of the fuselage ripping away only a few feet from where the FSO agents were taking cover. Harkov managed to get away form the edge in time, but when he reached back to drag Fedorov to safety, he was already gone. The plane slowed to a halt after another moment, but as soon as he looked up, one of the severed engines was careening down on him, the shockwave rendering him unconscious.

Stumbling through the wreckage, Pudovkin was still listening in on the radio traffic from surviving members of the FSO guard detail.

_**"...I repeat, Command Point is down and not responding!" **_The voice yelled urgently.

After a moment more of searching, he finds a half conscious Harkov trying to get to his feet.

"Come on, Agent Harkov! We have to protect the president!" He said, dragging the injured agent to his feet as they began navigating the gutted airliner and made their way outside into the snow.

From there, he could see more agents running here and there, some were pulling other agents out of the wreckage and treating them while others fanned out to secure the area. Alena, Vorchevsky's daughter, was alive and relatively unharmed, so Pudovkin ordered a few agents to get her to safety immediately. One agent came upon a wounded terrorist and finished him off. He then turned to a fellow agent nearby.

"How the hell did they breach our security?" He asked.

"There had to be someone on the inside. They knew to hit the Comms room first." The other replied as Pudovkin and Harkov pressed on as he addressed his men once again.

"All teams, secure and lock down your sectors. Has anyone found the president?"

_**"This is Team 4. President is injured, but stable."**_

"We are on our way over to you. Stay in a defendable position." Pudovkin ordered as he turned to another agent.

"Send up a flare."

They passed by one of the engines, which exploded and left their ears ringing but they were unharmed by some miracle. As they looked up, they saw a helicopter with a search light over head.

"That's the rescue chopper. We have to push through to the president!" Pudovkin urged as the remaining security agents rallied on the airfield. From there, they engaged several hostiles how barged in with a few vehicles, one with a mounted turret. After some careful aiming, Harkov managed to pick off the gunner and the agents continued their push. As they rounded a corner and were about to put down the remaining terrorists when a hail of bullets cut them down, the gunners calling our.

"Friendlies! Over here!" They called out. The president was with them. He seemed to be slightly injured, but still alive as Pudovkin looked him over seeing the chopper putting down nearby.

"Harkov, open the door. We are getting out of here!" He commanded.

Harkov did as he was told and opened the door, only to reveal none other than Vladimir Makarov! Before Harkov could even draw his gun, Makarov shot him in the chest, giving him a mortal wound. Only a moment after he went down, Pudovkin and the other agents were gunned down. Pudovkin tried to fire back while critically wounded, but Makarov put a round in his head. He then walked up to Vorchevsky, a henchman wrenching his head back to look him in the eyes.

"You know who I am?" Makarov asked. The president glared at the man, but nodded.

"Then you know what I want." Makarov replied.

"You're insane..." Vorchevsky breathed, not believeing the lunacy he was hearing.

"Russia WILL take all of Europe...Even if it stands upon a pile of ashes. I want those launch codes...NOW." Makarov stated his intent, not caring how many innocent people would die due to his goals.

"You will never get them!" Vorchevsky snarled angrily, but a stooge yanked him to his feet and dragged to the chopped, throwing him in roughly.

"Everyone has a weakness...Find the girl." Makarov instructed.

This whole time, Harkov had been listening. He had heard about Makarov. The man was completely insane...A mad dog killer on the loose and killing as he pleases. If he got the codes to the nukes, then most of the world would be destroyed. Makarov would destroy all of humanity, just to make his point. He slowly reached for Pudovkin's pistol and tried to aim it at Makarov, making a last ditch effort to eliminate this mad man once and for all, but Makarov already spotted him and was aiming right at him. He was about to die.

Suddenly, a brilliant flash of light blinded everyone around them. As Makarov was pawing around, blinded by the flash, Harkov fired off three rounds at him, hitting him in the midsection. Before anyone could do anything else, the light vanished, the wounded FSO agent with it.

"Uughh...What...was that?" Makarov grated out as some of his men helped him into the chopper and got him some medical attention for his gunshot wounds.

_**BACK IN 1945...**_

In the bath, the girls from both squadrons relaxed and let the fatigue and stress of combat wash away, the girls chatting about one thing or another. Minna remembered something from the other night, about her having misgivings about having them here. The Fuso warrior maiden sighed as she answered as best she could.

"I admit that I didn't trust them at first, but who could blame me for that? It's just that from my own personal experience, men like them tried to..." Mio trailed off, but Minna knew what she was talking about.

When she was just a young Ensign, she was awkward and clumsy, despite her rigorous training. A Naval Captain had taken her under his wing and taught her most of what she knows now about military discipline and doctrine. She then shot up the ranks, becoming a rising star in many military circles within Fuso. Soon, however, she noticed sudden changes in the way he looked at her and spoke to her. He began getting more hands on until one day, he forced himself on her. His reason behind it was that he had made her what she was today and that she should show her appreciation and respect by pleasuring him on his whims. He would have done it, if she didn't have Reppumaru with her. She managed to fend him off and stop him. After a military tribunal, he was stripped of his rank and cast out for his crime, Mio vowing to never let that happen to any other witch as long as she lived.

Mio calmed down and collected her thoughts once again, thinking of how she helped Private Ramirez earlier that day. He was her age and a bloodied soldier as well, but still an awkward young man who lost his family and needed guidance.

"I can see that they aren't like most men, who would have taken immediate advantage of this situation. They are consummate professionals but not only that, they are good, honest men. Private Ramirez even asked if he could join me in the mornings and learn Kendo from me. I personally have no problem with it and his Sargeant had nothing against it, either." Mio smirked.

Perrine overheard the two talking and really wanted to be closer to he beloved Major.

_'Grr...If it's not that Racoon Dog girl, it's someone else. This time, is a male she's talking about fondly! She's MY Major!'_ The Gallian girl fumed.

Lt. Mason was walking down the halls, coming back from the infirmary where he had been making sure Junior Sargeant Romanov was doing alright. The doctors had informed him that thanks to the immediate medical treatment, she would not have to live with phantom pains. In fact, they could even craft an artificial limb for her so she could continue on in her military service. He was just glad she was going to be fine and was about to walk out of the room to get some rest before dinner, but she stopped him before he could leave. She then asked if she could talk to him alone, the doctors, nodding and leaving the small room.

"You...risked your life for mine...You can speak my language...Why? Why did you nearly die to protect me?" She asked, blushing.

"To be honest...It has a lot to do with how my family was killed, but that's a story for another time, hun. For now, you're safe and sound and from what the docs told me, you'll be back on your feet in no time. See you around." He told her as he disappeared around the corner.

"Comrade Lieutenant..." She whispered, a faint blush on her cheeks.

"Whew...That was awkward." Mason muttered.

He did NOT need a young girl having feelings like THAT for him. She was a really cute girl and would likely mature into a beautiful young woman, but it would be just damn creepy. With a sigh, he turned his attention in the directions of his room, where he could dump his gear and weapons, got take a shower or bath because he was ripe, and get some shuteye before dinner. This had been a long day...But it wasn't over yet. As he headed over to his room, his path took him near the girl's bath and he heard some screaming coming from inside. Still having at least his sidearm on him, he drew his G-17 and bolted over to where he heard the noise. Steadying himself for what he was about to do, he took a deep breath and slipped inside the dressing area. Seeing nothing, he moved over to the door to breach it. With a powerful kick, he bashed in the door with his weapon leveled.

"You girls okay?!" He asked, scanning the area for the assailant while some leftover adrenaline coursed through his system. He then spotted a red blotch floating in the water and waded over to it, finding a mortally wounded man floating there and dragged him out.

"What the hell?" Mason wondered, looking at the gun in the man's hand.

It was an FN Five-Seven, another weapon that didn't belong here so he could only assume that what happened to himself and the others happened to this man, too. Luckily, he didn't need to ask Yoshika for help since she had rushed to change into her clothes and came back, getting started on healing him immediately. While she healed him, Mason rifled through the man's pockets for any kind of ID or clues to who he is when he found a wallet with a badge...With a Hammer and Sickle over a red star.

"A Russian..." Mason growled as he reached for a pair of cuffs and restrained the man before he was fully conscious and dragged him to his feet.

"Wh-what's wrong, Lieutenant?" Mio asked.

"He's a Russian...I need to find out what the hell this guy's game is." Mason answered as he slapped the man's cheek mildly to wake him up.

"Wake up, asshole. I got some questions for you." Mason growled.

"Wh-what...? I...am not dead? Did I kill Makarov?" He asked himself, looking around wildly.

"Where is the President?! Commander Pudovkin! Fedorov! Belov!" Harkov called out, but to no avail. He finally looked at the man before him.

"Who...are you? Where am I?" He asked.

"Lieutenant Brad Mason, Los Angeles SWAT and T-Zero Unit 2IC, but that's not important right now." Mason replied coldly, brandishing his taser.

"What we want to know is who you are and what you're about, Ivan." The officer finished, sparking the tazer to assert his point. Harkov looked at the flag patch on his arm.

_'He is an American! But...What is he doing here?'_ Harkov wondered as he rattled off his name.

"Andrei Harkov, FSO agent and Presidential Bodyguard for the Russian President. I need to go and find him!" Harkov pleaded with urgency as Mio walked in.

"Lieutenant...I hope you aren't going to torture this man..." She intoned with a hint of disapproval.

"If his story checks out, I won't need this." He replied as Mio opened up her magic eye.

"I can see if he's lying with this..." Mio offered.

"Thanks." He replied as Harkov rattled off the chain of events that led him here as Soap and Price came running.

"So...That bastard Makarov kidnapped the Russian President to keep the war going and turn all of Europe to ashes...That arse." Soap snarled.

"But this guy actually managed to hurt the bastard. Makes him alright in my book." Price added to that, signalling Mason to let him loose, Harkov rubbing his wrists.

"Oh...Thank you. President Vorchevsky did not want this war, but the Politburo managed to override him. A few days ago, we found evidence that Makarov was influencing several key party officials to agree to his terms in exchange for high ranking positions in the new administration he would set up. President Vorchevsky found out about this and weeded out the traitors and was on a plane to Hamburg, Germany to negotiate peace with your Vice-President when our plane was hijacked by his thugs. The plane crashed in Ukraine, outside of Kiev. We had to hold off more of his thugs that had been waiting for us until an Mi-17 showed up. We believed that it was a rescue craft, but Makarov was on board. He shot me, killed my commander and two more agents, but if that flash of light had not happened, I would be dead right now." Harkov told them, rubbing his wrists.

"He isn't lying. Everything he said was the truth." Mio informed the rest of them, causing them to sigh in relief.

"It's good that he's on our side, but that maniac kidnapped the Russian President and wants to get his hands on WMD's." Price grumbled, wanting to get home now that his own world needs them now more than ever.

"WMD's? What are those?" Minna asked, the visages on all men present going grim.

"Something I wish we could un-invent. Remember when we told you about those 30,000 soldiers and civilians that died in an eyeblink? That was a Nuclear Weapon, something perfected 20 years from now in our timeline. They can wipe entire cities off the face of the earth, leaving only a large crater and a radioactive cloud that leaves the affected 20 mile radius uninhabitable for decades to come." Foley explained, the implications of such a things becoming a sobering reminder of what could have happened if the Neuroi hadn't arrived, but may still become a reality. Trying to get off of these depressing thoughts, Lynnette cleared her throat.

"Um...Dinner is ready, now." She announced.

"Really, now? Time for chow, then." Soap grinned, remembering breakfast that morning.

"What's on the menu tonight, luv? Price asked, the young britannian girl beaming again.

"Lancashire Hotpot!" She announced.

"I'm liking this place even more." Soap said, his grin widening as they made their way to the dining room, plus one more.

"What is this Hotpot?" Harkov asked, having been briefed on the situation, his weapon returned, and strangely accepting of this new reality, but also very hungry.

"Oh...You'll like it, mate. That Lynne is a right bloody genius in the kitchen. If she weren't so young, I'd marry her!" Soap joked, in good spirits and eager to have his next fix of the Britannian girl's cooking.

After all of them settled in the dining hall, the rest of them got acquainted with their new fellow Time/Space traveller, Dunn not very happy about it. Ramirez was trying to let it go and busy himself with his food while Foley gave his Corporal a stern glare.

"Dunn...Let it go. He's just as much a victim of Makarov as we are. When we get back, we'll ALL make that son of a bitch pay but until then, keep your shit straight. Hooah?" Foley admonished. Dunn took a deep breath and a bite of his food and calmed down.

"Hooah." Dunn replied as he calmed down.

Across the table, Harkov had gotten to meet his people's counterpart in this world, Sanya Litvyak, the two of them talking in Russian. She was telling them about what had happened to their homeland in this world and he sighed sadly.

_"So...It is not only in this world that our country is torn apart by war and violence."_ He told the small girl.

_"Comrade Harkov...What has happened to our people in your world?" _She asked of him.

However, what she got was the grim and bloody history of their Motherland in his world...Stalin, the Purges, Communism's poisonous reach causing havok and chaos all over the world and killing millions. The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the Soviet Union, but the old Communist hardliners still held high ranking positions in the government, so it was still a nightmare that threatened to return. In 2011, the Ultranationalist Party, the new banner the old Soviet regime fell under with Imran Zhakaev at the helm, was becoming very violent and amassing an army with the intent to take over Russia and strike down their enemies...The rest of the world. He managed to take over an old missile base and launched two MIRV Warheads at the Eastern United States. Captain Price and his team, a joint task force of U.S Marine Special Forces and Russian Loyalist Spetznaz managed to fight their way into the facility and disarm the warheads, but Zhakaev was already on his way there with more reinforcements. A chase down the highway ensued between the Ultranationalists and the remaining task force members with Mi-24 Hinds joining in and attacking with complete disregard for the innocents that were there. The chase ended at a bridge, which the Hinds blew up and Zhakaev personally led his guerillas in to finish them off. Only Price and MacTavish survived, MacTavish being the one who killed him. With Zhakaev dead, there was nothing to keep Makarov in check. He killed as he pleased and where ever he went, bloodshed followed, including the events that led up to the current war.

Sanya was feeling very ill all of the sudden, turning a shade of green. Eila saw her discomfort and while she couldn't understand Sanya's native language, she knew that Sanya was extremely uncomfortable somehow and this new man had something to do with it and lashed out in reflex.

"Stop picking on her!" Eila growled, but again, Sanya stopped her.

"Eila...He was only telling me the truth about what my people in this other world had done. Many were horrible...Crimes against all of humanity. The more I learn about this other world, the more I am terrified by it. I refuse to allow my homeland to commit such horrifying acts and once this war is over, I will not allow what happened in their world to become our nightmare as well." Sayna declared in a voice that was much stronger that usual. Eila had never seen Sanya so determined before, so motivated.

"I hope that they do not come to pass here, either. I can only hope that if we can find a way back, I can aid in making sure the evils of the past are gone for good." Harkov added, taking another bite of his meal.

"This is very good, Miss Lynnette! Spasibo." The Russian man thanked the young hostess politely. This food was indeed very good for a British meal, but he wouldn't mind a robust bowl of Borscht, either.

"Yeah...That was another good one. I almost don't want to go back, now!" Ramirez joked.

"To think...I bet if your mom met her and tasted this, she'd be trying to get you to marry her!" Mason added to the young private's dismay.

"Is that true?" Perrine asked.

"Oh yeah...I think it's a motherly thing. They want to make sure their son's will be happy and taken care of. It's the reverse for the daughters. The dads, like myself, would grill the young man who wanted to court our little girls and make sure, very sure, that the young man lives up to her expectations." Mason explained.

"Mine won't stop trying to fix me up." Foley grumbled. He was 30 years old and un-married. His mother was near her wit's end trying to find him a wife.

"So his mother would think that Lynne was prime wife material, huh?" Shirley chuckled.

"I guess so." Dunn replied with a chuckle. He knew his mom would have been trying to hook him up with a local girl who's parents she knew, but he wanted to hook up on his own terms.

Mio just chuckled herself, knowing that if hadn't shown up, she would have been married by now, as was the norm in Fuso for young women her age. Miyafuji would only be a couple of years away from matrimony herself, since young women in Fuso tended to marry young. Lynnette was just happy that these men enjoyed her cooking so much, but blushed when marriage was brought up. First, Captain MacTavish commented that he would have asked her to marry him if she weren't so young. Next, she hears that Private Ramirez's parents likely would have loved her and would have welcomed her into the family with open arms. It really helped to boost her self-esteem a little more as her close friend Yoshika could see with a smile.

It was starting to get late, so everyone helped clean up and called it a night. Their new comrade was assigned to a room so that he could get some sleep after being shot and nearly killed, then revived. While he waited to fall asleep, he pondered what he would do to help stop Makarov once and for all once they all returned...If they could do that. He had been told of what these Americans and the two Brits had been doing and while it sounded incredibly dangerous, he could understand not wanting to let these girls take these...things on alone. It seemed as though the militaries that were supposed to be backing them up left them to bear such a heavy burden all alone. His fellow travellers saw it for what it was and lent their assistance in the form of a Search and Rescue squad.

_'Hmm...I believe that I should lend some assistance in return for the hospitality...As well as that Miyafuji girl saving my life. If it were not for her, I would be dead.'_ Harkov reasoned as sleep finally took him.

_**BASE COMMANDER'S OFFICE...**_

"I know, sir...Things have been happening at a breakneck pace around here." Minna replied to a question.

_**"Commander Wilcke...This is intolerable and you have overstepped your bounds. However, these men have already lent their assistance to your...Witches...and from the accounts of some of your personnel, they wield weaponry far more advanced than our own. Now...We would like to send someone over to...ascertain the true intent of these men."**_ The man on the other side of the line, Lieutenant General Berthold Gregor drawled out, spitting out the word Witches. This immeadiately got Minna's guard up. Many in the higher chain of command had serious problems with Minna rising to the rank she currently held, and now they were going to use this as leverage to remove them.

On the other side of the line, General Gregor saw the Witches as a dire insult to the pride of a true soldier. Minna Deitlinde Wilcke was one Witch in particular that he loathed. She was only 19 years old, yet she held a rank equivalent to a Colonel. Despite being a model soldier, she was female and he believed that war and the military were a man's world and should always remain as thus, no place for young girls.

"Like who?" Minna asked challengingly.

_**"General Strasse...He has expressed his interest in this matter and wishes to investigate personally. You WILL afford him every courtesy, understood?"**_ The man informed her, ending it with a thinly veiled threat, but Minna wasn't easily rattled. She dealt with Trevor Maloney and she would deal with these people in due time.

"When is he coming?" She asked him.

_** "He is already on his way as we speak. It seems as though his enthusiasm could not be contained."**_ Berthold replied in a smug tone as he hung up on her. She slammed the receiver down angrily.

"That son of a bitch...He sent Strasse here intentionally and without telling us." She hissed. She knew what Strasse was capable of and that alone made her fear for the safety of the girls should he decide to kidnap another witch to sate his...curiosities.

_'He will also try to steal their weaponry from them and maybe experiment on them, too...But I doubt those men will go quietly and without putting up a huge fight. Maybe it's a good thing they're here, judging by Lieutenant Mason's reaction to our screams. He kicked in the door and rushed in because he thought we were being attacked.'_ She thought. She knew that they would keep them safe from whatever Strasse and Gregor had up their sleeves.

_**IN A MOTORCADE CROSSING THE GALLIAN BORDER...**_

General Wilhelm Strasse sat in the back set of his open command car, in the middle of a large convoy of troops carriers and smaller APCs, pondering what he would find at the 501st Air Base. He had been informed by spies that were within the staff there at the base of these men from another reality, who had what he could only describe as Wunderwaffe, Wonder Weapons, weapons that made his most advanced prototypes look like antiques. Just the reuseable Rocket Launcher alone would be enough, but then they had these powerful Sturmgewehr that were not only more accurate, but hit harder and fired faster than theirs, as were as these secondary weapons they were equipped with.

_'An underbarrel munitions launcher...I never would have thought of that...I hope that these men are feeling...charitable or I may just have to take them and kill them.'_ He thought wickedly as the convoy lumbered it's way toward the Gallian coastline. It was the reason why he had brought along such a large contingent of soldiers with him, in an attempt to intimidate them into cooperating.

One thing he hadn't been told was the level of training these men had, making them far superior soldiers than his own. At least three or four of them had Special Forces level training as well as operational experience and all of them were bloodied soldiers, having killed before and having no problems killing in defense. He would have to play this carefully and he felt if he threatened the Witches, they would be easy to manipulate.

_A/N: There you have it. Another chapter for you to enjoy. For those who asked for a Russian, ask and ye shall receive, my friends. Andrei Harkov, FSO agent! Also, the two Karlsland Generals I got from two different sources. Berthold Gregor is an enemy General from Valkyria Chronicles, an Active Strategy/RPG for the PS3. The other is from the Wolfenstein Series, General Strasse._


	4. Where Angels Fear to Tread

_ Hey there folks...Got the next chapter here for you to enjoy. Remember how Maloney stabbed the 501st in the back in the first season? Well...Keep that in mind. Also, the Strike Witches world will get their first REAL taste of what these highly trained and competent men can really do, along with kicking some major ass._

_**501st BASE**_

Morning had dawned on the base and saw the early risers up and training already. Trudy was busy training with the Task Force men, getting a feel for what they did for physical training and getting a hell of a workout out of it, while Mio had taken Ramirez under her wing and was training him at the same time as Yoshika with Harkov watching on.

He had always been a bit fascinated with the Japanese culture, the ancient Samurai in particular, and had only seen a Samurai Katana in a museum and in books, but the Major Sakamoto carried the real thing and from what he had been told, she had used it in combat. Even more impressive was that she had killed one of those gigantic Neuroi with one blow and managed to slice through one of their laser blasts. He was also intrigued that she had agreed to take the youngest American on as one of her students, said young man about her age. He looked over at the Karlsland witch to see her doing CQC sparring drills with the Task Force Operators and the two older Army Rangers. Captain Price was something of a legend in the Special Forces world, over 50 and still able to take on young men half his age. Men like him were rare and there was his right hand man, Captain MacTavish. He lived through wounds that would have killed normal men and got back on his feet quickly, speaking of a remarkable vitality. This Lieutenant Mason also sounded like a tough customer, being a former Navy SEAL and before the invasion, he was 2IC of an elite, para-military arm of Law Enforcement, one that took on the most dangerous criminals.

_'Well...It would not do for me to let myself go...'_ He thought as he dragged himself to his feet, shed his jacket, and stretched himself out before hitting the obstacle course.

Over an hour later, it was time for breakfast so everyone packed it in and headed in for another filling breakfast.

_**LATER...DINING HALL**_

The men and witches had all seated themselves in for a filling meal made by Yoshika this time. She made them Grilled Sanma, White Rice, Miso Soup, and rolled Tamago, a traditional Fuso breakfast.

"Mmm...Y'know, I normally don't like fish all that much other than fish and chips, but this is pretty good." Soap praised.

"You really think so, Mr. MacTavish?" She beamed, that bright smile that was her hallmark shining through.

"Aye, lass. I need to be trainin' extra hard or you all will make me fat!" Soap chuckled, in good spirits, taking in some Miso Soup.

_'Soap's been in a right good mood these past few days. It's good to see him de-stressed like this, but we need to keep in mind that we don't belong here. We still need to crack this DSM. I think I saw a laptop in the Lieutenant's SWAT van...'_ Price pondered as a message came over the base's Comm system.

_**"Commander Minna, the gate reports that a General Strasse and his detachment are here to see you."**_ The voice reported, but the blood in every witches veins suddenly froze when they heard the name.

"S-Strasse? What is he doing here, Minna?" Mio hissed.

"That pig Gregor sent him here, to _assess_ the threat that these men pose and if necessary, take them into custody and confiscate their weaponry." Minna growled lightly.

"That's bull and you know it. We all do. Who knows what will happen if we let him in?" Trudy asserted, knowing full well of Strasse's vicious nature.

"Who is this guy? Why is he such bad news?" Dunn asked.

"General Wilhelm Strasse. In charge of Karlsland's Wunderwaffe Program, but he also has a great deal of political clout and a powerful backer. Any witch that has served under him has suffered grievously, some committing suicide from the things Strasse and his staff do to them. However, nothing can be done against him since his backer will sweep everything under the rug and act like nothing happened..._Bastard..._" Minna explained, her clenched fists shaking with barely restrained fury.

"Let me guess...They want to shut you guys down again?" Mason asked bluntly.

"That's a possibility...But I doubt he would stop there." Minna muttered worriedly, running to go intercept the general before he decided to force his way in.

"This jerkoff sounds too much like Shepard..." Mason grimaced.

"Yeah...WAY too much." Foley agreed as the rest of the followed.

"Yeah, with some classic mad scientist mixed in. Christ...That guy sounds like a freaking psychopath...Like my 8th grade science teacher." Dunn shuddered.

"8th Grade teacher?" Foley questioned.

"Yeah! That guy was one lab accident away from being a super villain!" Dunn replied, trying to inject a bit of humor into the situation. It worked for a few moments.

"Sounds like my sister when she's on a roll..." Erika added jokingly.

"Yes...But all joking aside, this Strasse sounds like bad news and we'll all need to keep on our toes." Foley advised, the men all nodding in agreement.

"Just in case something serious goes down...Harkov. Let me show you to the Armory..." Mason suggested, seeing the necessity to keep all those who can use the weaponry and are on their side armed and know where to look for weapons, as he and Harkov left the room.

"I think he's got the right idea. We don't know what this bastard's angle is, but we need to be ready..." Price asserted but the breaking of glass interrupted him.

_**WITH MINNA...**_

"Where is that obstinate girl?" Strasse huffed, his motorcade halted at the front gate as a smaller command car rolled up, the red haired commander hopping out and greeting him.

"Herr General...Wing Commander Minna Dietlinde Wilcke reporting." She saluted, her voice cold and professional.

"Hmph. You kept me waiting, girl." He huffed as she saw the rather large troop compliment behind him.

"Are you expecting to fight a war all on your own, Herr General?" She asked, an eyebrow hiked. This set off immediate red flags in her mind.

"They are merely...A precaution against any aggression from Neuroi or otherwise." He explained, false sincerity heavy in his tone as she led him onto the base, but he had a few of his soldiers execute his hidden orders while he enacted this phase of his plans.

For this leg of his plans, he gave a subtle gesture to his oafish second in command, Hans Grosse. Hans was a mountain of a man at nearly seven feet tall, and loaded with muscle. This massive man grabbed Minna before she could react and held her in a vice like grip, the sneaky Karlslander producing a syringe from his sleeve.

"What are you doing?!" Minna screamed, hoping to alert someone, preferrable their new SAR Team, but his creepy smile and laugh was too unnerving.

"Don't count on your new friends to help you...I have already taken them captive, along with your witches. You see...Those young wenches will prove quite useful to my experiments." Strasse cackled.

"Don't you DARE touch them, you sick freak!" She snarled at him as he jammed the needle into her arm, making her vision go hazy.

"You don't have a choice...Mein Fraulien." He sneered at her as he vision went dark.

"Load her into my car and make sure ALL of them have been captured. Round up all of the base personnel in the hanger and hold them there until we leave...Then kill them." The mad general ordered as they got moving.

_**BACK WITH THE OTHERS...**_

Waffen SS mixed into the regular soldiers, had managed to sneak into the base and find the men. They found their targets alright, all in the same room along the rest of the witches as Targets of Opportunity. Aiming carefully with the special sleeping gas Strasse and his staff had created, they lobbed the gas grenades in through the window.

"Damn! It's Tear Gas! Everyone get down!" Price bellowed, more Gas Grenades incoming as the fumes overwhelmed them, knocking them out.

"We need to get in there and get them to a secure location and await Herr General's orders." The Schutzstaffel Lieutenant ordered as his men climbed into the room and carried the occupants away quickly and loaded them into the trucks.

Once they were already gone, Mason and Harkov made their way back to the dining room to find the evidence.

"What happened here?" Harkov whispered, looking around for anything that could give them a clue as to what happened and where the others went.

"Drag marks. Broken windows, Grenades...They were ambushed by someone and taken away, but who could have done this and so quickly, at that?" Mason muttered.

"Da. The drag marks lead down this way." Harkov pointed out, pulling out his Five-Seven as Mason pulled out his G17. Mason had given him a new armor vest to replace his old, torn up one and had to admit that this Dragon Skin was a better fit. On top of that, he had been handed a tazer for silent, non-lethal takedowns.

"You have comms, right?" Mason asked, the Russian nodding.

"Frequency 141.80 Mhz is mine. We'll split up and search this place. It's too damn quiet and something's not right." Mason stated.

"Da...It is done. I will search the West Wing and radio if I find anything. Good luck." Harkov said as he slunk off to search, Mason doing the same.

After over an hour of searching, they came across a small group of soldiers once they met up again, all down in the hanger bay where the Striker Units were stored. The American signaled the Russian, who then descended the stairs and flanked the enemy soldiers holding the mechanics and base staff captive, Mason doing the same on the other side so they could side swipe the hostile soldiers before they could even react.

_**"Harkov...Drop 'em."**_

_** "Da...Firing."**_

The pair opened fire at the same time with practiced precision, dropping all five soldiers with a hail of pistol fire and unloading a full magazine apiece.

"Wh-what the hell?" One of the base guards stammered, seeing their captors mowed down with such ease, but then they saw two of the visitors come from out of the shadows, the barrels of their guns smoking.

"What the hell happened here?" Mason demanded.

"L-Lieutenant! A bunch of Karlsland soldiers just busted in here, killed a few of us, then locked us in here!" Rene D'Claude, a young Gallian MP, replied.

"Do you know what they wanted here?" Harkov pressed.

"I-I saw them carry people onto trucks and leave, only a few moments ago!" He replied.

"Were there any witches on patrol?" Mason asked of them.

"Umm...Yes! Flight Lieutenant Hartmann is still out on patrol!" Emil Perioux, a tower technician, answered them.

"Good. Andrei...We're going after them. The rest of you, grab their weapons and deal with the bodies. Next, try to radio for help and tell them what happened here." Mason instructed as he and Harkov ripped out of there and into the motor pool, where a few mechanics were waiting.

"Your vehicle is already re-fueled and ready to leave." One young mechanic, Mike Harper, reported with a salute, which he returned.

"You youngun's bring back those girls, y'hear?" An old mechanic, Glenn Baker, grated out as the pair climbed into the SWAT assault vehicle.

"Wouldn't accept anything less." He replied as he started the engine and backed out of the pool, pointed out toward the gates as he switched over to the Witch's radio frequency to link up with Erica.

"Hartmann! Come in! Hartmann!" Harkov called out on the CB mounted in the van as Mason drove towards the gates.

_**"Eh? Mr. Harkov? What're you guys doing?" **_She asked, Harkov explaining what had happened to her.

_**"WHAT?!"**_ She nearly flipped out, but Mason's voice snapped her out of it.

"Focus! We need you to help us find them! They are in a large convoy, last seen headed East. Seen anything like that?" He asked of her.

_**"Y-yeah...I saw them a few minutes ago! That was them?!"**_ She bleated out.

"That's right. We are already on our way, but we need you to help us track them down and follow them. Can you do that?" He asked of her.

_**"...Yes...I can and I will. Those bastards kidnapped my friends and my sister for whatever sick things they're planning. No mercy."**_ She growled, completely out of character compared to her usual bright and cheerful persona.

"Lead on, but do NOT engage. Let them think they're making a clean getaway. I'll hand you off to Harkov." Mason instructed as they got underway, shifting into high gear.

"Hi Ho Silver..." He muttered as he gunned the engine and ripped out of the base.

_**IN PURSUIT OF STRASSE**_

For two hours, they had been steadily catching up with the convoy thanks to Erica's guidance, but after a while, they spotted her when she flew too low. She was looking ahead of them and saw a massive castle that looked very old, but it had Karlsland banners adorning it.

"So that's where they're going..." She whispered as she was about to report their position.

"Herr General...There is a witch that appears to be following us. What should we do?" A soldier asked.

"Shoot her down." He replied in a bored tone as his men did just that.

"Mr. Harkov...I think I know where their heading..." She began to broadcast until she was cut off by intense gunfire.

All of them just aimed up and emptied their magazines at the young witch, who was not used to being fired upon by her fellow humans and was caught flat footed, her Strikers paying the price. They scored several direct hit to her Strikers, which started to belch black smoke and then they just stopped functioning, dropping out of the sky and out of sight.

"Witch has been shot down, sir." The same soldier answered.

"Wunderbar...Continue onward. She will not be able to warn anyone." Strasse commented as they continued onward.

"Erica! Erica report!" Harkov yelled into the comms, but she was silent. For a few moments, they thought they had lost her when she groaned into her earpiece.

_**"...They...shot me down..."**_ She whimpered.

"Where are you?" Harkov requested as she relayed her location to them. The two men stopped to look in the woods for her briefly until Mason found her and called Harkov to help him carry her badly damaged Strikers as well as Erica herself.

"You gonna be okay, hun?" Mason asked her.

"That...hurt. I know...Where they're going. Castle Wolfenstein, just a few kilometers from here." Erica groaned as she was examined for injuries, but thankfully they were light.

"She has a minor concussion...Two bruised ribs and her ankle is broken...She will be fine, though." Harkov declared as he finished treating her with the on board med kit.

"That's good...We should get going. Lord only knows what's waiting for us there." Mason replied as he got the vehicle moving once again toward their objective.

_'Castle Wolfenstein? Good God...Sounds like something out of a cheesy video game...'_

_**CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN**_

Strasse and his posse had pulled into the courtyard of the old castle that served as his base of operations as well as his laboratory. The Tiger II Tanks resumed their posts, troop carriers pulled upto an unloading dock where more soldiers started to grab bodies and drag them into the dungeons below. The men had been stripped of their weapons and taken down to the same holding cells for interrogation, but Minna had a special purpose. She was a powerful witch, one that would be very suitable for his recent series of experiments while the others had other uses. He DID institute a breeding program, after all. All of the guards went back into their respective posts upon returning, the base seeming to die down in activity.

"Take this one to my laboratory...I will be down there later tonight." Strasse instructed as he left for his office.

Outside, around a half mile away, the SWAT van pulled off into a well hidden outcropping as Harkov and Mason climbed out, turning to their injured witch friend.

"Erica...This radio is already tuned to the frequency you witches use in the field. Use it to try and call for help and give them the situation. Have them contact us on the inside for more instructions." He instructed her, pulling out their gear for inside as well as outside recon.

Harkov pulled out an MK14 EBR with flash and sound suppressors fitted with an AN/PVS-4 Scope for quick recon and sniper work. Once they get inside the castle's perimeter, they picked out the lightest weapon with the most punch for it's size, the TDI Vector .45 SMGs, both fitted with Red Dot sights and suppressors with 40 round magazines, but Mason held onto his Benelli Shotgun loaded with 12 oz. slugs. Since Harkov's FN Five-Seven was low on ammo, he handed him a replacement Glock 17 for access to more plentiful ammo. Since part of their plan relied on finding some kind of power generator and taking it off line, they both packed a set of NVG's. Soon, the sunlight had dimmed considerably and it was time to go. Before they did, Mason handed Erica a weapon since her MG42 was lost.

"I know you remember this one, an MP5. Use it to protect yourself." He told the young witch as they disappeared into the forest to rescue not only their compatriots, but her squadmates, friends, and sister as well.

"Good luck, guys." She whispered, cocking back the action of the SMG to ready it for any trouble that might come her way.

The two men made it to a ledge that looked over the West side of the Castle, where they could hopefully find a way to sneak inside the castle. After a few moments of looking through their scopes, Harkov found a viable route that was lightly guarded. However, they would need precise sniper shots to eliminate both the guards on bottom and top, already deciding on the order. Harkov took a deep breath and fired, eliminating the guards with laser-like precision as they quickly moved in to infiltrate the stronghold.

"That went smoothly, but we need to keep our eyes peeled." Mason advised, Infiltration and HRT_** (Hostage Rescue Tactics)**_ being his specialty, so Harkov would be following his lead this time.

The pair then slipped inside the doorway and inside the fortress, where luckily for them, the light was already low enough for them to use their NVGs to navigate much easier and silently. Coming up to a corner in the hallway, they halted upon hearing activity ahead of them. Harkov crept to the other side of the hallway and waited fo the source of the noise to walk right past them. The noise came from a pair of unwary guards, Harkov looking to Mason for direction to either switch them off or let them go. He signaled to kill one and capture the other, so the Russian drew his tazer to stun his target while Mason performed a kill. The deed done, they dragged the bodies back into a room, where they slapped their captive awake.

"Wh-what?!" The guard gasped, but a gun muzzle to his face silenced him.

"The people you took earlier...Where are they?" Harkov hissed, pulling back the action of his SMG to assert his point..

"U-underground...In the catacombs! Entrance under central staircase in the main hallway!" He blubbered out.

"And how do we get there from here?" Mason pressed.

"F-Follow the outer parapet and you will come around to the center building! Enter through there! Mein Gott un Himmel...Don't kill me!" He pleaded.

Mason nodded to Harkov, who used his tazer to stun him in the neck, effectively knocking him out for the next few hours as they slipped back outside and found their way up onto the outer battlements that wrapped around the castle. There were searchlights all over, but only one covering the area they were in, so using his suppressed rifle, Harkov picked off the guards operating the lights and in their path so they could move forward.. Soon, they found the accessways the soldier told them about and slipped inside the central building, only to find that it was much better lit and better guarded. With a frustrated sigh, they switched off their NVGs to aviod being blinded and thought of a better plan.

"Have any ideas?" Harkov asked.

"Gimme a minute...Gah...The best I can come up with is a fast sweep. We have suppressed weapons, so we can at least get the drop on them and gun them down before they see us. We slice a path straight towards the catacomb entrance in the main foyer. Once we find the guys, and arm them, we'll stand a much better chance in a firefight than we do now. Our armor can stop damn near anything they throw at us, but I'd rather not press our luck any further than we already have." The former SEAL operator explained.

"That does not sound too bad...As long as we are quick, yes?" He asked.

"Yeah. You ready?" Mason asked of him.

"Da. On your go." He replied, ready for the quick movements they would be making in there.

"Go!" Mason hissed as he shoved to door open, surprizing the four guards inside, who were quickly cut down as they moved on in a hurry.

They knew they had to move fast and find the entrance before any alarms were raised, so they opted to full out run wihle keeping a sharp eye out. Rounding another corner, they dropped two more guards with a quick double tap and moved along. They then came upon what appeared to be the officer's galley, where at least five of them were eating at the time. Mason had them halt just outside and pulled out a flash grenade, tossing it inside. Once the grenade went off, they stormed the room and wiped it clean of life, reloading before they moved on to the main hallway. At this point, they still hadn't tripped any alarms, so they decided to slip into the catacombs quietly while they were still undetected, shutting the door quietly behind them and barring it from the inside to buy themselves some time.

_**STRASSE'S OFFICE**_

Inside his office and with a glass of stiff brandy, he picked up the receiver of his phone and dialed. The other end of the line rang for a moment before someone picked up.

"Strasse here...Yes sir...I have the men imprisoned in the dungeons below the castle, along with all of the witches that were present at the 501st base and I had men remain behind to ensure that the staff was killed. They should prove most useful in my experiments. I trust that you will offer your explanation of their disappearance?...Ah, you are too kind. I look forward to reporting the results...Mein Fuhrer." Strasse said, hanging up the phone.

"It is time to begin." The insane scientist stated to himself, an absolutely evil grin on his face as he laughed all the way out the secret door in his office that lead down into the catacombs and his personal lab.

_**WOLFENSTEIN CATACOMBS**_

"Finally...We're down in the catacombs." Mason sighed.

"Yes, but...I am feeling...How do you say, creeped out." Harkov stated.

"Yeah...I got that, too. Just be careful...No telling what that sick bastard has down here." Mason warned as they once again turned on their NVGs to negate the very low light.

The two of them advanced very carefully, nearly falling through weakened floors twice. They simply noted their locations and moved along. They now came across a large wooden door that had an actual skull over the archway, further unnerving them but they pressed onward. Opening the doors attracted some attention from inside, the head guard sending a few men to investigate the noise.

"Shit...Here they come. Dust 'em!" Mason ordered a hail of .45 Cal gunfire stopping the small group in their tracks.

"Don't stop! Rush the post and keep them from hitting the alarm!" Mason yelled as the ran full tilt at the guard post, eliminating them before they could warn the others. On the key rack, the found rings of old keys which they took as they further searched the old cell block.

Before they could move though, their comms lit up.

_**"Guys? It's me, Erica. You found them yet?" **_She asked.

"Not yet, but were in the underground prison area right now so I can guess we're close." Mason replied.

_**"Cool! Well, I managed to contact an old friend of mine, Lt. Krupinsky and a Liberion General."**_ She added

"That is good news. Where are they?" Harkov inquired.

_**"Lt. Krupinsky is already here with me and the Liberion General wants to talk to you..."**_ Erica told them, patching the old leader through.

_**"This is Lieutenant General George S. Patton of the Liberion 3rd Army. Who am I talking to?" **_ A gruff voice asked.

"Special Operations Task Force 141 operatives Lieutenant Mason and Sergeant Harkov, Mason speaking sir." Mason answered, explaining what had happened to the Liberion General.

_**"WHAT?! Those crazy Kraut bastards! What they hell do they think they're doing?!"**_ Patton exploded, but calmed down.

_**"You boys already snuck in there? Damn...Nice to know you're on our side. Have you found them yet?" **_He asked.

"Not yet, but we're in the underground prison block, so we're damn close. I'll radio in once we find them." Mason assured.

_**"Right. Good luck, boys. I'll have a talk with Allied GHQ and send some of my forces down there to help you since you're only an hour away. Keep your powder dry till then. Patton out."**_ Patton signed off, but Erica came back on line.

_**"Lt. Krupinski wants to talk to you guys, now." **_ The young witch informed them as a shuffling sound was heard and a throat cleared.

_**"So...You guys had the balls to sneak in that death trap alone and to rescue witches? I'm starting to like you already. Listen, I'll talk with my Squad Leader to bring help, but it won't be for another two hours."**_ She informed them.

"Any cover is better than none." Harkov commented, drawing a chuckle on the other end.

_**"Damn right, it is. Thanks for taking care of Erica and good luck in there, Krupinsky out."**_ The laid back witch signed off as Erica took over once again.

_**"She left to get reinforcements. I'll stay on the radio with you guys to relay anything new. Stay safe in there!"**_ She signed off herself as they went over what the learned.

"That is very good news. I thought we would have to fight our way out of this madhouse." Harkov sighed in relief.

"We might still have to, but we'll have them to back us up once we're out of here. We need to keep moving. It's only a matter of time before someone finds those bodies upstairs." Mason advised as they started their search again.

After a few more moments, they came upon a set of cells.

"Hey...Anyone in there?" Mason called out.

"Mason?! Harkov?! Holy shite! Good t'see, mates!" Soap elated.

"You moppets actually snuck down here? Damn good work." Price appraised as Harkov opened the door and freed them. The old man and his 2IC went over to the dead guards and relieved them of their weapons and ammo.

"A bit old school, but it'll work." Soap reasoned as he checked the ammo in the MP40 he picked up, seeing it was still a full mag and stuffing four more magazines in his combat webbing.

"You guys didn't have your gear with you?" Mason asked.

"No...Still tucked away in our room. Figured that bastard would be after it." Price reasoned.

"I got that vibe, too. We took out a group that got left behind to kill the staff and search the grounds of the weapons." Mason confirmed.

"C'mon. The other yanks are down this way and so are the girls." Price beckoned, having them lead since they had NVGs and could see in the darkness much better.

A moment, two doors, and three bullet ridden guards later, they came across the three Rangers, Ramirez looking worse for wear.

"What happened to the kid?" Soap asked, checking him over. He was alright, just beat up.

"He saw a couple of guards treating Sakamoto a little too rough when we woke up and struggled. He actually knocked a few teeth out of one of the guards before they curb stomped him. He took it like a champ, though." Dunn answered.

"Bastards..." Ramirez glowered as he found an STG44 on a dead guard, the other two procuring weapons.

"Well, c'mon you lot. We got work to do." Price stated as they all fell under Price's command again.

"Mason...You and Harkov did a damn fine job, breaking in here to bust us out. The SAS would have been impressed." He mentioned as they got under way.

"I have something to tell you, though. One of the witches, Erica Hartmann, was on patrol and isn't in here with the others. She helped us find this place." Mason said, explaining all that had happened, including the prople who had offered help.

"An entire Army Corps and a Combat Wing of witches...They'll come in handy once we bust out of here." Price commented as they continued their search.

_**ALLIED GHQ**_

Waltrud Krupinsky and General Patton had both arrived at the HQ at the same time, both of them storming into the building and straight up to the Allied Commanding General, General Eisenhower and his supporting generals.

"George...Lieutenant Krupinsky, what brings you here so late?" He asked them.

"Cut the crap, Ike. We just got intel that the witches of the 501st and the 78th have been abducted from their base of the Normandy coast and taken to Castle Wolfenstein, just beyond the Gallian border." Patton stated.

"What? Who could have done this?" Ike asked.

"Elements of my own home country's army, under the command of one Brigadier General Wilhelm Strasse." Waltrud opened up her statements, explaining the character of Strasse. That was enough to make Eisenhower grow pale.

"Even worse, he has considerable clout within our military with backing from a powerful politician, or possibly a group, that hates witches. Many witches that have been posted under him are never heard from again. The remaining few commit suicide soon after. Now...My comardes, my sisters in arms are at the mercy of that maniac." She growled.

"W-well...We'll have to call him in here and hold an inquiry, to get to the bottom of these rather weak allegations." Another General, one Berthold Gregor proposed.

"Dammit, haven't you been listening?! These girls will be DEAD before anything you do takes effect! I have men inside trying to get them out, but they can only do so much! We need to move NOW! I can have several elements of my Corps ready to stomp on 'em within the hour!" Patton forcefully bellowed.

"I can have the 502nd ready to deploy within the hour as well. The men that went in there voluntarily risked their lives entering that madhouse to rescue our kind, I will be _damned_ if I cannot return the favor." Waltrud glowered at the weak politics that were holding them back.

"I understand. I approve of your courses of action and I will be informing Lord Chief Air Marshal Dowding of this turn of events. What unit took up such a dangerous mission?" Ike stated then asked.

"Special Operations Task Force 141. That was the unit identifier they gave us, but I have a feeling we'll find out more once this is over." Patton said as he and Krupinsky swept out of the building.

"General Eisenhower...Why have you approved of this...rash and irrational course of action against my people?!" Gregor demanded.

"Your military has long regarded witches with comlete disdain and contempt, but those young women are the best weapons we have against the Neuroi threat. It is by their hands alone that we as a species still exist, and we owe them such a large debt because of it." Eisenhower replied firmly.

"Grr...The heads of Neue Karlsland will hear of this... blatant favouritism! You Liberions always think you are so superior..." Gregor hissed.

"You forget that it was ALL countries in the Alliance that voted to have myself placed in this position and I am doing my level best to use this authority wisely." Eisenhower dictated, glowering at the sheer audacity this man had. The other Generals in attendance weren't very pleased either.

"You forget that General Eisenhower's leadership, combined with the witches, have staved of the extinction of humanity. Do not forget your place." Gallian General DeGaulle rebuked.

"Si! We have survived this long under him, so we have no reason to doubt his judgement." Nicola Bellomo, the Romangian Commander, added.

"Gregor...Once again you have made a complete fool of yourself and your pet mad dog Strasse is now out of control. Rabid animals need to be put down." Karlsland Field Marshal Erwin Rommel stated coldly. He placed great value in the witches under his command, seeing them as excellent and valuable soldiers despite their young age.

"Fools...You are all fools who have lost your pride as men! Entrusting the fight to mere girls...Some of which should be giving birth to the future of our race instead of dallying in a man's domain!" Gregor rebutted angrily.

"Again you forget that it is we, those _Little Girls_...That have staved off disaster time and time again. His Excellency has the utmost faith in us, something many young witches have bled and died earning. You Gregor...Are nothing but a sniveling worm dancing to the tune of vengeful and bigoted old men." Adolfine Galland, the Karlsland Inspector General as well as the Allied Inspector General of the Witches, snarled in disgust as she whipped around to address Eisenhower.

"General sir! Adolfine Galland requesting permission to sortie along side my old comrades!" She belted out, every bit the professional soldier.

"Granted, General Galland. Godspeed." Eisenhower granted as she contacted the Leader of the 502nd personally and Rommel sighed heavily.

"I will head back to the Fatherland and explain the mess Strasse and Gregor have caused before someone can twist it around. I sincerely hope these men can pull this off." Rommel stated as he too took off for the Neue Karlsland HQ with all possible haste.

"W-Wait!" Gregor tried to stall him but a pair of guards with machineguns halted him at Eisenhower's order.

"Escort General Gregor to the Brig. We will think of what to do with him later." The Allied Commander General ordered as he and his staff slammed headlong into damage control.

_**BACK AT CASTLE WOLFENSTEIN**_

The men had been working their way through the dungeons of the castle, finally stumbling across the holding cells which held the witches of the 501st and the 78th. It's pretty pointless to say that they were extremely happy to see them. Mason tried the keys to the locks, but they were useless.

"Get back! I'm gonna shoot the lock!" He yelled, getting them clear. He leveled his shotgun and blew the lock apart, the door flying open from the sheer force of the 12 Gauge slug.

"Major! Are you okay?" Ramirez asked. Mio was surprized, but honestly touched by his concern.

"I've taken worse than this, Private, but thank you for asking." She chuckled.

"You know...When that guard hit you with the butt of his rifle, he went nuts. I think he knocked out a few of his teeth." Foley smirked.

"Chivalrous, aren't we?" Mio teased as the smallest witch ran up and clamped herself to the big Scot.

"I knew you guys would save us, big guy!" She cheered happily, giving the mohwaked SAS Commando as big a hug as she could while he chuckled.

"You men certainly took your time!" Perrine complained, but that was par of course with her.

"Knock it off, Perrine! At least they're here and they got us out." Yoshika rebuked as healed up Ramirez and Mio.

"How did you find us?" Trudy asked.

"Your friend Erica was on patrol when they attacked, so she was able to help us find this place. Harkov and myself managed to silently take out the guards in our path, _convincing_ one of them to tell us where you were. As for Erica, she's back at the Van, using the radio in there to contact reinforcements." Mason told them.

"Who will be coming?" Mio, the most senior witch present asked.

"A Lieutenant named Krupinsky and a General Patton." Harkov answered, the faces of the witches lighting up with hope.

"That is very good news. He has been one of the witches greatest supporters and Lieutenant Krupinski took very good care of Frau and I when we were younger and we learned a lot from her." Barkhorn stated as the men did a head count, confirming their numbers before calling in.

"Erica...It's Mason. We found them. Everyone is alive, okay and accounted for except for Commander Wilcke. I still have no idea where she is." Mason reported.

_**"But where could she be?!" **_Erica almost panicked. Minna, like Trudy, had been with her since the beginning. She didn't want to have to say goodbye to her, not like this.

"We won't stop looking until we find her. Patch me through to Patton. I need to know how things went on his end." Mason instructed as she did just that.

_**"Eh? Who the hell's this?"**_ He demanded.

"It's Lieutenant Mason. I managed to find and free all of my fellow Task Force members and all but one of the witches. Only Commander Wilcke is missing." Mason relayed.

_**"Damn fine work Lieutenant. Get them outta there, pronto! We got the go ahead from the Karlsland Emperor to storm the castle and I'm gonna shove a boot up Strasse's crazy ass!"**_ Patton yelled into the comms.

"I'm sending most of the team to escort the witches to safety while Captains Price, MacTavish and myself keep searching for Commander Wilcke. Once we find and free her, we'll be in touch. Mason out." The former SEAL stated as he cut off the comms and got back to work.

"Comrade Lieutenant...You rescued us again..." Junior Sergeant Romanov stammered shyly, making him heave a heavy sigh.

"Listen honey...All of you, listen up! Sergeant Foley, I want you and the rest to get these girls out of here safely, Harkov can show you the way so let him take point. Once you get out to the van, check in." Mason instructed.

"Roger that, LT." Foley saluted as he turned to the rest.

"You guys heard 'im...Let's get the Hell out of here!" Foley barked as they all followed Harkov out of the castle and to safety.

"Soap...Price...You guys with me?" Mason asked of the two SAS operatives.

"It's your show, yank. In for a penny and all that." Price stated, saying that he and Soap had his back.

"Let's go then...No telling what the sick little bastard is up to." Mason replied.

"I reckon we can squeeze one of the guards down here about that." Soap reasoned as they darted off.

In the upper reaches of the castle, the large group carefully made their way back toward the East entrance, using the same path that the SWAT officer and the FSO Agent had carved out only 30 minutes before. They had encountered a few more soldiers, but they too had been dispatched swiftly, not even having to use their firearms to do so. After a harrowing 15 minutes, they finally made it back outside and quickly ran back to the van, Harkov leading them there. Upon reaching safety, Erica embraced her sister tightly, having nearly lost her twice in as many days as Foley got on the radio.

"LT... We made it out to the van. Awaiting further orders." Foley stated.

_**"Good work. I want Harkov to use his rifle to scope out the area near the main entrance bridge, scan for threats, and take them out accordingly. Next, I want you and Ramirez to take an RPG-7 apiece along with a few rockets and another weapon that feels right to you, and wait in a hidden spot near the main bridge. There will be Liberion Army elements arriving there soon. Explain that you are with Task Force 141 and coöperate with them in laying siege." **_Mason ordered.

"Roger that. Hunter 2-1 out." Foley said as he signed off.

_**BACK INSIDE THE CASTLE**_

"The Rangers and the Russian got them outta here in one piece and their waiting by my van." Mason relayed to the others.

"That's a bit of good news. We have a couple less things to worry about." Price replied.

"You said we have reinforcements inbound, right?" Soap inquired.

"Yeah...Speaking of which..." Mason mutter as he got back on his radio.

"General Patton...You there?" Mason asked. There was a moment of silence until he answered.

_**"Patton here...What's the news?"**_

"All witches save for Commander Wilcke have been exfilled from the castle safely. My team and I are still inside, searching for her." Price stated.

_**"Who's this?"**_

"Task Force 141, Captain John Price and Captain John MacTavish."

_**"More of you? Heh...More the merrier. You boys get back to work finding her and once you do, get her out immediately. We don't want you getting caught in the crossfire."**_

"We can handle it. We got a job to do...Cheers." Price said as they signed off and headed out to find a guard that was actually alive and beat some info out of him.

That didn't take very long, as they found such a _willing _informant waltzing down the halls without a care in the world. Soap quickly grabbed him, dragged him back into one of the rooms and beat the crap out of him.

"W-wait! I...I'll talk! I'll tell you anything I know, just don't hurt me anymore!" The soldier whined as Mason held up a sparking Tazer.

"Good...Now tell us where Strasse took the witch with the long red hair, Commander Wilcke. Better tell the truth, or my buddy here will make you pay a penalty for lying." Mason growled, nearly making the soldier soil himself.

"H-He took her to his lab! The lab is down the hall from here!" The guard blurted out as MacTavish waved the Tazer in his face, still sparking angrily.

"You sure about that, mate? Think _really_ hard..." Soap hissed.

"I-IT IS! _Mein Gott un Himmel..._" He blubbered as Soap nodded. Mason Tazered the man in the neck, leaving him a lump on the ground as they checked the hallway again.

"Just down this way, then." Price murmured as the group filed out and made their way to the secretive lab.

_**INSIDE STRASSE'S LAB...**_

Strasse had just finished riding his personal elevator from his office to the lab, waltzing inside to see that Minna had been strapped to a strange machine as per his instructions, his head goon Hans and almost two dozen Waffen SS armed with STG44's and FG42's waiting for him there, Hans himself wearing a prototype suit of combat armor packed with weaponry and there to ensure that nothing interrupted his master's work.

"Now...We will start the process...Mein Fraulien." Strasse drawled as he flipped a switch.

Minna's scream of pain was heard clear throughout the catacombs, actually helping the team of three SF operatives home in on her location as they raced there as quickly as they could.

"What the bloody hell is that freak doin' to her?!" Soap growled.

"Don't know...But we're about to rain on his parade." Price replied calmly as they drew closer, silently taking out the guards by the door and sliding into position.

"Mason...Get ready to toss in a Flashbang." Price ordered, Mason doing just that as Soap eased the door open a smidge, but as soon he was about to pull the pin, a huge series of explosions rocked the castle.

_**BACK OUTSIDE...**_

Patton and his 3rd Army had arrived with all the fury of a hurricane, fully intent on ripping the place apart to get at Strasse.

At the same time, Foley and Ramirez got close enough to the Tiger II's and fired their Anti-Armor rockets, one hit apiece killing each Tiger guarding the gates as the old general watching on.

"What the hell?! Those two just killed a pair of Tiger's head on with one rocket apiece!" He yelled, urging his tank driver to keep moving up as the sound of Witch Air Cavalry overhead was heard.

_**"General...This is Adolfine Galland, Commander General of Karlsland Witches. I have brought the 502nd JFW and we will provide air cover!" **_ She announced.

"Ma'am...Aren't those Karlsland soldiers down there?" Edytha Rossman inquired.

"Not anymore..." Gundula Rall, Squad Leader, growled as she explained what had happened, all of the witches now glowing hot with anger.

"BASTARDS!" The hot tempered Naoe Kanno bellowed.

"That's...beyond heinous. I'll never forgive them!" The brash and tomboyish Nikka Katajainen snarled.

"Let's get down there and help out!" Edytha added as the witches all dove into action, avoiding the AA guns that had been placed there.

_**"General Patton, this is Sergeant Foley with Task Force 141. We have cleared out the two tanks guarding the entrance."**_ Foley stated over the radio.

"Damn good work, boys! I could use more men like you in my Corps." Patton announced as he whistled loudly, three young women with Land Strikers rolling up, Patton's Girls

"What's the plan, boss?" A young blond, Marilyn Savon, asked.

"Good timing, girls. I want you three to get in there, help out those Task Force boys in there, and just plain raise hell!" He ordered.

The three had already been briefed on what happened and they were steaming mad, raring to get in there and make them pay.

"Let's kick some ass, girls!" Patricia, or Patty, whooped as they cheered as well.

"Damn right!" Abigail, or Abby, belted out as all three tore off to go do as much damage as possible, Howitzers blazing.

_**BACK INSIDE...AGAIN...**_

"What the hell was that?! Hans! Go see what is happening!" Strasse screamed at his henchman, who grunted as the Armor seemed to glow with a ghostly blue light, heading up to ground level via a secret service elevator while Strasse continued to take notes and make adjustments.

"Useless dumkopfs..." He muttered as she continued his work.

Outside the room, they also felt the shock waves.

"Feels like the cavalry's here." Mason chuckled as they continued on with their plan, not having to deal with whatever that thing was that inhabited the room before.

The grenade was tossed inside and exploded with a deafening bang, blinding and disorienting everyone within. An initial burst of gunfire had barked from the entrance, taking down a few of the guards before they could regain their bearings and rushing into cover behind a couple of knocked over metal lockers.

"What?! KILL THEM!" Strasse screamed madly as he slammed on a button that dropped a clear shudder down around him and the contraption Minna was strapped to, the SS guards that had survived the initial gunfire taking cover behind overturned tables.

"Damn...That was my last Flashbang." Mason grumbled as he returned fire with his SMG.

"Never thought I'd be fighting Nazis...Or at least these guys." Price remarked as he loaded another fresh magazine into his MP40, but heard a metallic clank next to him.

"Bloody hell...FRAG!" Soap bellowed as he scooped it up and chucked it back.

"Why the HELL is it taking so long to kill them?!" Strasse shrieked.

"Herr General...They are highly skilled combatants!" His Lieutenant explained, but was nailed in the head.

"You are all IDIOTS!" He shrieked again as the firefight raged on.

_**THE BATTLE FOR WOLFENSTEIN**_

The battle outside was still raging on as Strasse's still sizable private army was putting up a huge fight. Their Tiger II's had already been taken out by Task Force operatives, but that's not to say they weren't helpless without them, especially since Hans Grosse joined the fight in his prototype Mobile Armor Suit. It was something that Strasse had been working on for years, more heavily armored than a Tiger tank and packing more firepower that three whole platoons. But, something this powerful would certainly have it's drawbacks and this one's fatal flaw lay in it's power supply. This suit needed a constant source of magical power to keep its defenses and weapons running, but securing such a power source was very difficult at best. This was why witches kept disappearing, because this process either killed them outright or Strasse threw the weakened witches that survived to his men, who used them to the point where they killed themselves, covering his tracks. However, Allied Forces had discovered what he was up to thanks to a team of highly skilled soldiers and they were now knocking at his door.

"Dammit! What does it take to kill that stupid thing?!" Mary whined as she took cover from another barrage of MG fire, but she hadn't noticed there was a Karlsland soldier that had taken a position behind her cover that she hadn't seen and he was about to take the shot when Ramirez took him out with a trio of well placed shots from his newly aquired M16A4 w/ACOG. The young witch turned to the young Ranger with a grin.

"Thanks, cutie!" She winked, drawing a blush from said Ranger as they continued the fight.

_**"You will die here!"**_ Hans bellowed out, his voice sounding doubled and echoed due to the suit, as he repelled another volley of rounds from the Shermans.

"Even our RPG's can't breech that things defenses...What's the plan, Sarge?" Ramirez asked as he loaded up another rocket.

"Just keep on lighting that damn thing up, Private!" Foley barked as he took another shot at an AA Gun, taking it out with some help from Harkov, who had been providing sniper support and had already taken down three on his own, the witches now able to close in without facing a hailstorm of fire. Suddenly, they recieved a message over their Comms...

_**STRASSE'S LAB...**_

The two ex-SAS Commandos and former SEALs operator have whittled down the numbers of their enemy to a handful as they worked their way through the lab under fire and finally gunned down the last remaining soldiers and tried to shoot out the glass only to see that the glass held up.

"GAHHAHAHAHA! My new glass can even repel your gunfire indefinitely!" Strasse boasted, but was getting nervous with the looks the three men were giving him, like hungry predators trying to figure out how to get at their prey.

"There has to be a way through..." Price mumbled as Mason and Soap searched for anything to use, until Mason grabbed a few grenades from the dead soldiers and searched his leg pockets for something and pulled out a small roll of tape.

"What will that do?" Price asked.

"I used to do all kinds of stupid things with firecrackers as a kid. Just watch this." He muttered as he taped six Stick Grenades to the barrier, pulled their pins and ran back behind cover, taking aim with his G-17.

"What...What are you doing?! Are you insane?!" Strasse panicked, dreading what these crazy men were going to do.

"Probably." He replied as he shot the grenades and set them off as a concentrated charge, punching a 7 foot hole in the barrier and allowing access within.

"W-what will you do with me?" Strasse began to beg and plead for his life as Soap advanced on the man while Mason cut Minna free from her bindings to the machine and helped her up. The strange machine he was hooked up to wound down then died.

"You okay, Commander?" He asked.

"Yes...I'll be fine, thanks to all of you." She wheezed as she tried to get some of her energy back.

"Nein...NEIN! I WILL NOT FAIL HERE!" Strasse yelled psychotically as he produced a luger from his sleeve and aimed it at Minna.

"DAMMIT...GAH!" Mason yelled as he threw himself in the way, taking three shots in the chest before Price and Soap could subdue him via massive electrical shock.

"KURT! NO!" Minna cried, fearing that another man had died for her...

_'Just like Kurt...NO!'_ She mentally wept, but he staggered back to his feet.

"_That always hurts_...I'm fine...My body armor stopped the rounds from doing any damage. You alright?" He explained as he peeled back his jacket to reveal his armor, three neat little holes in it that lacked blood. She touched the vest in disbelief and pulled back in embarrassment from how she reacted.

_'He looks like Kurt...But I look like his deceased wife. It wouldn't work since he sees us as too young for him.'_ She lamented, hoping to give love another chance as she answered his question.

"Yes...I'm fine, thanks to you." She sighed while still in his grip.

"Looks like the lady C.O. has a thing for you." Soap joked.

"Not now..." Mason moaned as he got on the radio.

"This is Lieutenant Mason. Commander Wilcke has been secured. I repeat...Commander Wilcke is safe and secure. We are exfilling now." Mason announced, turning his attention to the person on his back.

"By the way...Who's Kurt?" He asked the young Commander as they ran for their lives out of the crumbling catacombs, dragging the insane man with them

_**THE BATTLE OUTSIDE...**_

_**"I repeat...Commander Wilcke is safe and secure. We are exfilling now."**_ Mason's voice crackled over the radio.

"Alright! Give 'em everything you got!" Patton bellowed, his men and girls doing just that was they steadily pushed inward.

Back at the van, Harkov packed them all inside and moved closer to the action, arriving there in time to help with the mop up.

Inside the suit, Hans could feel the power drain away to the point where he could no longer move and his defensive barrier was now gone.

"Nein...NEIN! I CANNOT MOVE!" The massive Karlslander screamed as he desperately clawed at the controls, but to no avail, the ground troops moving in to secure the area.

"Private! C'mon, let's peel that ass outta that suit before something bad happens again!" Foley ordered as the hauled the massive man out of the suit, but he wasn't ready to give up yet.

Hans had belted Foley across the head, but his helmet absorbed enough of the blow, while his other arm picked up Ramirez and flung him a good 3 yards away. A few 3rd Army soldiers saw what happened and rushed over to assist them, one jumping onto his back and trying to choke him out but the massive man merely backed against a wall and smashed him until he let go, the others trying to get close without getting pummeled. Harkov had seen what happened and ran at the massive man with his taser out.

"Ha ha! What can some little toy do against me?" Hans taunted as Harkov had to call on some of the training he received while in the Spetznaz.

A blow that could have knocked his head clean off whooshed above him as he ducked and lanced forward with the taser, it's crippling charge flowing into and debilitating the huge man in seconds.

"Come on! Get up and help me!" Harkov yelled, knowing that this wouldn't last long.

The Rangers hopped back on their feet and with the aid of the 3rd Army boys, they managed to take enough of the fight out of him to bind him and take him away.

"Nice job taking that big bastard down!" A voice called out from one of the doorways. They looked over to see Captain MacTavish with the insane General over his shoulder, Price and Mason behind him with Mason carrying Commander Wilcke.

"You guys in one piece?" Foley called out.

"Mostly. The Yank here took a few rounds in the chest for the lady Commander, but he has damn good armor." Price commented as they were approached by the Generals themselves.

"Lieutenant General George S. Patton, Liberion Army." He introduced himself.

"Inspector General Adolfine Galland, Karlsland Luftsmarine." The tall witch announced as the men all saluted back.

"Who's in charge of this unit?" Patton asked.

"Captain Price is the field commander of this unit, sir. They volunteered to work as a Search and Rescue Squad, already taking down two walker Neuroi on their own and saving two witches from death, not including their actions today. If it were not for them, we would likely disappear and our disappearances would have been covered up and forgotten." Minna reported.

"Judging from what we managed to get out of General Gregor, that would have been true. He has been found to be collaborating with a separatist faction within our military, this faction having links in other country's armed forces, but that cannot be confirmed." Adolfine stated.

"This just never ends." Price muttered as they fell back to Patton's Sherman for a debriefing.

He was told the full story of how they got there, with Lieutenant Ursula Hartmann confirming the story herself. It was known that Commander Wilcke vouched for them and her show of faith turned out to be their salvation, since these men felt compelled to risk their lives to enter this place, taking a grave personal risk to rescue them.

"I have admit, that was gutsy...Coming here with only two men and one injured witch...On the spot judgement calls, stealth, and sheer bravery. I will report your heroics to the Emperor of Karlsland." The lady General stated, saluting them once again as she flew off in her Strikers.

"You boys fell down some cosmic rabbit hole, huh? Well, I'll report this to Ike...Put in a good word for you boys. It's least I can do for the insane shit you boys pulled off." Patton said, rallying his people so they could go home. Mary stopped for a second and rolled up to Ramirez...and kissed him!

"Thanks for the cover, cutie." She winked as she took off with the rest of her Corps, Mio having caught sight of it and felt something very odd within her.

_'What was that strange feeling? I shouldn't have cared, but...'_ Mio mused as she struggled with this strange new feeling, being loaded into one of the commandeered trucks as they departed from the old castle, back to the comforatble base settled on the Gallian Coastline.

_A/N: The end of the fourth chapter...Well, things have been a little hectic here in my household and most of my attention has gone to fixing one problem or another. Okay...Explaination time! I pulled some names from history to the Gallian and Romangian Commanders and since Eisenhower was the Allied Supreme Commander during WWII, his counterpart here would be the same. Ol' Blood n' Guts Patton was a big supporter of the Witches in the manga, as was Rommel, so I could see them rushing to their aid in a crisis like this. Again, General Strasse is a character from the Wolfenstein Series, as is the castle itself. Hans Grosse is also from that same series, along with the armor suit, called Das Uber Soldaten, the Super Soldier. _

_ I also tool the liberty to tweak a few things, making it dependant on the witches as a power supply, kinda like living batteries. This was the fate that would have befallen the 501st and the 78th, if it hadn't been for these guys. Harkov gets his time to shine and prove himself and also...Will there be a love triangle between our young Private, Major Sakamoto and one of Patton's Girls, Marilyn Savon? What will come of Minna's outburst? Just who IS is this "Führer" Strasse was taking orders from? _

_ As per usual, read and review, folks!_


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